Mrs Chamberlain granted bail

Press, 20 November 1982, Page 1

Mrs Chamberlain granted bail

NZPA Sydney Mrs Lindy Chamberlain has. been granted bail from Darwin’s Berrimah Jail pending her appeal against conviction last month for the murder of her baby daughter, Azaria, in 1980. The Full Bench verdict of the Federal Court was reached by a majority decision. Mrs Chamberlain , signed her release papers in Darwin Hospital late yesterday in the presence of a local magistrate, Mr Timothy Hinchcliffe. The appeal is set down in Sydney on February 7. Mrs Chamberlain’s counsel, Mr Michael 'McHugh, Q.C., undertook to the Court to have her appeal ready to proceed on that date. Mr Justice Fox said that bail would be granted in the sum of $3OO and a surety of $300.,

He said this was on condition Mrs Chamberlain lived

with her family at the Seventh Day Adventist college at Cooranbong, near Newcastle, and accepted supervision of a welfare officer arranged through the Northern Territory authorities. She must also report regularly to the officer in charge of police at nearby Morisset.

His Honour said he would make the observation that Mrs Chamberlain should be isolated from the news media while on bail, as if she were still , in custody. Any interview dr attempted interview by the news media could be contempt of court. This included the taking of photographs or her posing for photographs. If these matters were not observed, he said, the Crown could make an application to the Court, which would have certain consequences. In his judgment his Honour said that the Crown had conceded that Mrs Chamber-

lain had a bona fide and arguable case for appeal. He said he did not believe Mrs Chamberlain would abscond if granted bail. Mrs Chamberlain had given birth to a daughter two days ago and the baby was taken from her immediately after birth, he said. Her husband was waiting to take care of the baby which was still in hospital in Darwin. His Honour believed Mrs Chamberlain did not present any danger to herself or the child. There was a need for a sound relationship between the child and the mother, and this would be missing if they were forcibly separated. It could be six months before the appeal was disposed of. The Crown had said there was no prospect of the child’s being given to Mrs Chamberlain or of even seeing her while she remained in jail, his Honour said. “I do not think past conduct should give rise to an

inference that it is likely to recur,” he said.

He would grant bail, but this was not an act of leniency, and did not prejudge the outcome of the appeal. The primary concern was the welfare of the child.

Mr Justice Northrop said that persons convicted of murder should be released on bail pending appeal only in exceptional circumstances. It did not constitute exceptional circumstances that Mrs Chamberlain was the mother of two sons, aged nine and six, that she was released on bail pending her trial, and was allowed by the trial judge to have bail during the trial. However, additional facts said to constitute exceptional circumstances were that her newborn daughter had been taken from her and he accepted that this would affect her and r ’r r - child. His Isx- ir said it was i ongruous that Mrs

Chamberlain, having been convicted of the murder of one baby, should seek bail so that she could mother another baby. However, he was satisfied that the special circumstanced of this case did constitute exceptional circumstances justifying the granting of bail. In a dissenting judgment, Mr Justice Lockhart said that the Chamberlains’ case had attracted unprecedented publicity throughout the world. But the principles that applied to other Australians must apply in this case. There was no different law for those who happened to attract oublicity.

No other case in Australia’s legal history had given rise to so many diverse views as to what actually happened, he said.

His Honour said that only one factor distinguished this bail application from others: the baby girl born to Mrs Chamberlain two days ago. In reality the bail application was an appeal from the decision of the Northern Territory authorities to take the, baby away from Mrs Chamberlain. He did not believe Mrs Chamberlain would harm the baby, but it struck him as incongruous that a woman convicted of the murder pf her baby daughter should seek bail to mother another baby , daughter. ■ ■ • His Honour said that the Court had been/told there was no previous, case in which bail had been granted to/a person; convicted of murder in the Northern Territory. ; ; “I do not. wish this case to be the first 1 would reject the application,? he said. .’ Mrs Chamberlain was convicted in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on October 29 jthis year of the giurdcpbi, her Aza-,

ria, near Ayers Rocjs, on August 17, 1980. Her husband, Michael Chamberlain, was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact of murder. He was released on a bond. Both have appealed against conviction. A Mr McHugh told the Federal Court Full Bench that it would be argued in the appeal that the Crown case iri the murder trial was; not proved beyond reasonable doubt and that the trial judge, Mr Justice Muirhead, had misdirected the jury on the question of: reasonable doubt. ' ‘ Legal authorities said that in giving the Crown leave to "make an application,” the Full Bench was allowing the Crown to apply for Mrs Chamberlain’s bail to be withdrawn if she were not left in isolation by the news media. . The Seventh Day Adventist community at Cooranbong, near Newcastle, feels "justice will be done” now that Mrs Chamberlain has been granted bail. The Church said that the Avondale college at Cooranbong would continue to care for the. Chamberlains.