GIST: "STORY: Lydia Lynch covers state and federal politics for The Australian in Queensland. She previously covered politics at Brisbane Times and has worked as a reporter at the North West Star in Mount Isa.
GIST: Kirsty Wright risked her career and reputation when she set out to expose one of the greatest failures in Australia’s criminal justice system.
A decorated forensic biologist, Dr Wright was relentless in her pursuit for the truth after discovering horrifying problems in the Queensland government’s DNA laboratory.
Dr Wright teamed with The Australian’s Hedley Thomas in 2021 on his investigative podcast series Shandee’s Story, which was investigating the 2013 stabbing murder of Shandee Blackburn, 23.
After reviewing material sent by Thomas, Dr Wright quickly became convinced the lab had concealed systemic issues with its methods, putting the public at risk from serious and violent offenders who were not being identified.
In the beginning, she stood alone in raising grave concerns on the podcast and in the pages of The Australian.
Senior bureaucrats and lab staff tried to silence her and paint her as a disgruntled employee.
After six months, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk heeded her warnings and ordered a royal commission-style inquiry into the lab, giving thousands of murder and rape victims another chance at justice.
Dr Wright is humble about the impact of her discoveries and has always said she wanted to be proven wrong.
In the final DNA inquiry report handed down last month, commissioner Walter Sofronoff praised Dr Wright.
“It is uncommon for technical professionals to be willing to risk the dangers of publicity,” he wrote.
“For this reason, Dr Kirsty Wright must be singled out as a scientist who bravely took a public position upon a point of important principle only because the public good required her to do so.
“Had she given private advice to Mr Thomas, nobody would have judged her. In my opinion her willingness to take a public stand was an act of real bravery.”
In doing so, she has been nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year award.
Before her work on Shandee’s Story, Dr Wright ran the national DNA database and led efforts to identify victims of the Bali bombings and the Boxing Day tsunami.
Her assistance in recovering and identifying the remains of murdered schoolboy Daniel Morcombe earned her a Queensland Police Commissioner’s Award."
The entire story can be read at:
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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