PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In a series of tweets, Mr Quaedvlieg said, as ACT police chief, he had spent “many spellbound weeks reading the old reports”. “The case [against Mr Eastman] was always circumstantial, however some of the avenues of inquiry were fascinating, especially the theory that two Calabrian hit men had travelled to Australia to undertake a mafia assassination on Winchester as retaliation for ‘ratting’ them out,” he said. “When I read the evidence as presented at the 1st trial, my leaning was [Mr Eastman] was guilty but knew it was hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. The retrial verdict reflects that view. “ Mr Quaedvlieg said that, when he read all material, he thought “other avenues needed to exhausted to negate them fully.” “For the record, while I don’t think that avenue of investigation was exhausted to the point of negation, I don’t believe Winchester was a ‘dirty cop’. “The evidence points to the contrary, but the Italian organised crime entities involved may have wrongly believed otherwise.”
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STORY: "Investigators did not 'exhaust' mafia theory: former police chief," by reports Alexandra Back and Michael Inman (court reporter), published by The Sydney Morning Herald on November 23, 2018.
GIST: "Investigators
did not “exhaust to the point of negation” the theory that Colin
Winchester’s assassination had been the work of the Calabrian Mafia, a
former Canberra top cop said Friday. Roman Quaedvlieg was the chief of ACT Policing when the re-trial of David Eastman for the murder was ordered in 2014. Mr Eastman was convicted and sentenced to life for the murder after a 1995 trial. He spent almost 19 years behind bars before his conviction was found to be unsafe and quashed, and he was released from jail. On Thursday, Mr Eastman, 73, was acquitted of the 1989 murder after a five month re-trial. Mr
Quaedvlieg - one of Mr Winchester's successors - took to Twitter to
share his insights into the case, specifically the theory that Mr
Winchester had been killed by the Calabrian mafia, after the news of the
not guilty verdict broke. The
retrial heard Mr Winchester had previously worked on an operation
observing the Calabrian mafia growing cannabis in Bungendore - men who
believed they were under protection from authorities. The cannabis
growers were later arrested and put before court, and the theory went
that they believed Mr Winchester had betrayed them. A portion of the mafia evidence during the re-trial was heard in a closed court. In a series of tweets, Mr Quaedvlieg said, as ACT police chief, he had spent “many spellbound weeks reading the old reports”. “The
case [against Mr Eastman] was always circumstantial, however some of
the avenues of inquiry were fascinating, especially the theory that two
Calabrian hit men had travelled to Australia to undertake a mafia
assassination on Winchester as retaliation for ‘ratting’ them out,” he
said. “When I read the evidence as presented at the 1st trial, my
leaning was [Mr Eastman] was guilty but knew it was hard to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt. The retrial verdict reflects that view. “ Mr Quaedvlieg said that, when he read all material, he thought “other avenues needed to exhausted to negate them fully.” “For
the record, while I don’t think that avenue of investigation was
exhausted to the point of negation, I don’t believe Winchester was a
‘dirty cop’. “The evidence points to the contrary, but the Italian organised crime entities involved may have wrongly believed otherwise.” Prosecutors
during the retrial had dismissed the mafia theory, saying the murder
was the work of an amateur and that Mr Winchester's death served the organisation no purpose. Meanwhile, there have been no wild celebrations by Mr Eastman - who is truly free for the first-time in almost 30 years Mr Eastman became an immediate suspect after the murder, and was questioned by detectives the following day. Although he was released from prison in 2014, he had been subject to bail conditions since then. The
former Treasury official did not front the waiting media for a jubilant
press conference outside the court after the verdict, instead
preferring to quietly slip away through a backdoor. Mr Eastman
spoke privately to a number of close supporters immediately afterwards,
although those conversations have not been made public. Through lawyers he politely declined a request for comment by The Canberra Times shortly after the acquittal. It
is unknown how Mr Eastman spent his first full day of freedom in three
decades, other than he has kept his head down in preparation for the
litigation of a civil claim. The fallout of the verdict on Friday
centred on the decision to pursue the re-trial, with a peak ACT legal
body saying it was a waste of taxpayers' money and did not serve
justice. The ACT Bar Association criticised ACT Director of Public
Prosecutions Jon White SC's decision to mount the retrial despite an
inquiry's recommendation a new trial would "not [be] feasible and would
not be fair". Mr White declined to respond to the association's criticisms. The
full bench of the ACT Supreme Court in 2014 quashed Mr Eastman's 1995
conviction for the murder and ordered he face a re-trial over the
assassination. The
court, comprised of Justices Steven Rares, Michael Wigney and acting
Justice Dennis Cowdroy, found Mr Eastman did not receive a trial
according to law. The judges said it had not been convinced that a
new trial would be unfair and had even been necessary as a strong
circumstantial case of murder of a senior police officer existed against
Eastman. The court heard he should not "escape having a jury decide whether or not he is guilty of that crime". "Weighing
all the relevant factors and considerations, we have concluded that the
interests of justice require that we order a retrial," Justice Rares
told the court in August 2014. Despite the court's orders, the
ultimate decision on whether to conduct a retrial fell to the Director
of Public Prosecutions, Jon White, SC. Bar president Steven Whybrow said there had been little justification in pursuing Mr Eastman the second time. "A
judicial inquiry had raised real questions about the fragile forensic
evidence and the effluxion of time had further undermined the
prosecution case and the accused’s capacity to challenge it," Mr Whybrow
said. Mr
Whybrow said Mr Eastman's age (he turned 73 during this latest trial),
the 19 years he already served in custody, and the cost of the retrial
all weighed against the prosecution. "Perhaps most significantly
Acting Justice Brain Martin, who undertook the judicial inquiry into the
original conviction, specifically expressed the view that even though
he thought Eastman was probably guilty, he still had a nagging doubt
(probably the same doubt the jury entertained) and in any event a new
trial would be neither feasible or fair," he said. "The slaying of
Colin Winchester was of course an abominable and serious crime that
justified the significant resources that went into the inquest, police
investigation and the original trial. "The heinous nature of the
crime could not alone justify the retrial of the main suspect
particularly where a judge has said such a trial would not be fair and
where he had a nagging doubt about guilt."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/act/investigators-did-not-exhaust-mafia-theory-former-police-chief-20181123-p50hvm.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
