PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "While a coroner ruled her death a suicide, several inconsistencies have emerged - sparking a popular podcast as the family search for answers about what really happened to their daughter. The 15-year-old, after a fight with her father about mobile phone use, had stormed off, with her body later found in the park. “I initially thought it was a badly bungled by the cops, but we launched the podcast and witnesses came forward I realised it was more sinister,” criminal barrister Peter Lavac told news.com.au. The podcast, The Garden of Eden, has been downloaded nearly five million times garnering massive publicity for the case and prompting more witnesses to come forward. Mr Lavac said it was impossible that Eden, who was 156cm and weighed a mere 45kg could have dragged the heavy fishing rope from the wharf she used to publicly hang herself and get to the top of the tree. The coroner admitted in the report there was “no available evidence” regarding the route taken by Eden to the location of her death. Last year, Mr Lavac said a whistleblower approached with more damning evidence the teenager was murdered."
NETWORKED KNOWLEDGE MEDIA REPORT: "'Eden Westbrook: Family claim police covered up suicide of Tasmanian teenager.' Reporter Carla Mascarenhas; News.com. January 30, 2004.
http://www.netk.net.au/Tasmania/Tasmania41.pdf
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GIST: A Tasmanian teenager believed to have died by suicide nearly ten years ago could have met with foul play, according to new claims.
Eden Westbrook’s life was cut short when on February 18, 2015, she was found in Fisherman’s Memorial Park in St Helens, two hours from Launceston in Tasmania.
While a coroner ruled her death a suicide, several inconsistencies have emerged - sparking a popular podcast as the family search for answers about what really happened to their daughter.
The 15-year-old, after a fight with her father about mobile phone use, had stormed off, with her body later found in the park. “I initially thought it was a badly bungled by the cops, but we launched the podcast and witnesses came forward I realised it was more sinister,”
criminal barrister Peter Lavac told news.com.au.
The podcast, The Garden of Eden, has been downloaded nearly five million times garnering massive publicity for the case and prompting more witnesses to come forward. Mr Lavac said it was impossible that Eden, who was 156cm and weighed a mere 45kg could have dragged the heavy fishing rope from the wharf she used to publicly hang herself and get to the top of
the tree.
The coroner admitted in the report there was “no available evidence” regarding the route taken by Eden to the location of her death. Last year, Mr Lavac said a whistleblower approached with more damning evidence the teenager was murdered.
The man explained that he had been drinking with a friend in Launceston a couple of weeks earlier when they started talking about the topic of suicide, and Eden’s name came up. “The person that he was speaking to said, ‘Oh no, Eden Westbrook didn’t kill herself. I know the guy that (was involved)’, and provided names of a man and a woman who were said to have
made the death look like a suicide,” said Mr Lavac.
He added that important witnesses have not been interviewed, and that police have given conflicting accounts over whether Eden was seen arguing with an older woman in CCTVfootage.
Perhaps most disturbing, a psychologist passed on information that a man in a position of power was sexually grooming Eden before her death, and another witness claimed Eden was the “victim of paedophile sexual abuse”.
Mr Lavac accused Tasmanian police of a “cover up”.
Her body was found by a delivery driver the morning after she left home. Eden’s lifeless body was also seen by multiple people, including a bus full of schoolchildren.
Her mother and father, who heard reports a body had been found, rushed to the park, and also saw her - an image that has haunted them as they campaign for the case to be reopened.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart would deliver her verdict into Eden’s death the following September without holding an inquest, concluding there were “no suspicious circumstances” and Eden had indeed taken her own life.
She described Eden as a “good student who consistently performed well” and who was a “sensitive person who cared about others” but
experienced some “mental anguish” which she felt no way out.
Eden, according to the report, had been “depressed for some time” and her school internet history showed that she had been visiting websites relating to pregnancy, unprotected sex, depression, suicide, family problems and drugs.
Her father Jason Westbrook rejected the notion Eden was depressed. “We really feel that Eden did not leave our home to commit suicide, we feel she left home because she had a fight with her dad and met with the wrong people,” he said.
The family are calling for an open, transparent, Royal Commission-style inquiry into her death.
A spokesperson for Tasmanian police told news.com.au: “Coroner’s findings were made public and included the circumstances leading up to Eden’s death and the competency of the police investigation. “Tasmania Police recognises the lasting emotional toll that remains with Miss Westbrook’s family, and the broader St Helens Community,” the spokesperson said.
For Eden’s distraught father, his daughter was a typical Tassie teenager. Adventurous, athletic, funny is how he remembers her. “An incredible kid,” he told news.com.au.
He won’t rest, he said, until the full truth comes out."
The story can be read at:
suicide-of-tasmanian-teenager/news-story/a82167786303f350ad7f8670bc561e80?amp
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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
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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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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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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;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
---------------------------------------------------------
YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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