Dingo-baby inquiry reopens

Press, 11 February 1981, Page 8

Dingo-baby inquiry reopens

NZPA Ayers Rock A consultant botanist told a Coroner’s Court at Ayers Rock today he was certain that soil in the jumpsuit of baby Azaria Chamberlain, the baby said to have been carried off by a dingo, did not come from the region where the clothes were found. I Rex Kuchel, a consultant botanist at the South Australian Police Department, also said the fact that the clothes were all found in one clump made him think that they could not have tieem put there by an animal. i Mr Kuchel was giving evi-l dence on the second day of| the sitting-of the court at Ayers Rock near the scene of the baby’s disappearance. The Coroner (Mr Denis Barritt) is inquiring into the death of Azaria who disappeared from the Ayers Rock camping ground on August 17 last year. Azaria had been brought to the campsite wih her family on holiday from Mount Isa. Her body was never found, although her clothes were found some time later. Mr Kuchcel said he was certain the soil in the jumpsuit did not come from the region where the clothes were found. He believed the sand could have come from the baby being buried in the sand dime area in the clothing, or the clothing being buried on its own. On Monday night the Coroner, legal counsel, and local police went out to the camping area where the couple pitched their tent to view it about the same time the body disappeared. .