Forensic Evidence At Murder Trial Wrong, Defence Claims

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30827, 12 August 1965, Page 7

Forensic Evidence At Murder Trial Wrong, Defence Claims

(N.Z. Preu Assn.— Copyright) SYDNEY, Aug. 11. An atomic test had shown that hair found in a murdered woman’s hand did not match the hair of a man convicted of her murder, a barrister told the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday. The barrister, Mr lan B. Ward, said the test conducted by the Australian Atomic Energy Commission at Lucas Heights, south of Sydney, was the first of its kind in Australia. The convicted man, Terence Guerin, aged 22, a father of three, was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 3 for the murder of Mrs Colleen Jean Sherwood, aged 24, at her Baulkham Hills home on June 2, 1964. The Crown alleged Mrs Sherwood was stabbed four or five times and strangled with an electric cord. Guerin, who pleaded not guilty, has appealed against the conviction and sentence. Hairs Compared Last May, Mr Ward told the Court the Atomic Energy Commission would compare hair taken from Mrs Sherwood’s clenched hand with hair from Guerin’s head, to determine whether they were the same. Today, Mr Ward said the test had been made by Dr. L. E. Smythe, head of the analytical section at the

A.E.C.’s research establishment at Lucas Heights. To the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Herron, Mr Ward said he contended the test established with reasonable satisfaction that the hair found in Mrs Sherwood’s hand was not Guerin’s. He said soon after Mrs Sherwood’s body was found strands of hair were taken from her hands. A Dr. Cramp, of the forensic department, found the hair in her right hand closely resembled her own. Dr. Cramp had testified at Guerin’s trial that the hair found in her left hand was darker than her own and identical with samples taken from Guerin’s head. Case In Canada Mr Ward said that since Guerin’s trial it was found an atomic energy test had been made in a similar case in Canada. Subsequently it was found this test also could be made by the Atomic Energy Commission in Australia. Twelve hairs from Guerin’s head and the dark hair found in Mrs Sherwood’s left hand were submitted to the A.E.C. for testing. Mr Ward said that previously tests made overseas on samples of hair could only establish that they appeared similar in dimension, colour, texture and other visual aspects.

Subsequently it was found that hair contained elements such as zinc, copper, mercury and manganese in varying quantities.

Atomic energy tests overseas and at Lucas Heights involved bombarding the hair samples with neutrons to make the elements radioactive. Elements Measured The resultant radioactivity of elements in each sample was measured and mathematical calculations established whether one sample of hair was identical to the other or could reasonably have come from the same head. Mr Ward said the Australian test on Guerin’s and Mrs Sherwood’s hair was conducted in only three elements. Asked by the Chief Justice how accurate the test was, Mr Ward said that at the present stage of the test on the three elements the degree of probability that the hair found in the deceased’s hand came from the appellant’s head was one in a 1000. “If these tests were carried out on further elements the probabilities could be taken up to the 15 billion mark,” he said. Mr Ward said the test was of such material significance that if the. Court accepted it as fresh evidence a new trial should be ordered. The Chief Justice said this would depend on whether the probative force of the test indicated a miscarriage of justice could have occurred. Accuracy Of Test

Questioned by the judge, Mr Ward said the atomic test was as accurate as fingerprint evidence. The Chief Justice: I do not think the Courts in Australia

have ever had evidence of this type placed before them before. I understand the first case of this type was the Canadian case. I have long experience in the law and I have never known any such test to be suggested in a court of law. Mr Ward said this type of test could determine the origin of a piece of mud. “They can take a piece of grease from a person’s clothing about the size of a pinhead and carry out tests to determine whether it came from a particular source,” he said. Court’s Responsibility The Chief Justice said under Australia’s Judicial Code juries must make their verdicts on evidence they understand. “But the idea of feeding of facts into a computer in order to reach a decision of whether guilty or not has not yet been reached,” he said. “So you must show how the scientific test fits in with the rest of the evidence. “We have a very great responsibility to see how this novel and modern test fits into the case before the jury.”