Court dismisses man set-up for Stuttle murder appeal?
Injustice | 08.04.2005 06:00 | Analysis | Liverpool | London
River traffic bridge was the
only witness to this crime.
AUSTRALIA: QLD: In the Supreme Court in Bundaberg last October, Ian Douglas Previte, 32, was jailed for life after being convicted of the murder and robbery of Caroline Stuttle, 19.
Mr Previte lodged the application in the Court of Appeal in Brisbane on the grounds that the trial judge erred by allowing evidence from a handwriting expert and two other witnesses to be admitted during the trial last year but has had his appeal against conviction dismissed?
The original trial was told she had been thrown from the Burnett Bridge during a struggle for her handbag in Bundaberg, 350km north of Brisbane, on April 10, 2002.
Previte appealed on several grounds, including that Justice Peter Dutney had been wrong to admit evidence of handwriting experts and taped confessions and the convictions were unsafe and unsatisfactory.
But after considering submissions, three Supreme Court justices found the jury verdict was safe and dismissed Previte's appeal?
Mr Previte is serving life in prison.
Experts gave evidence at the trial on whether a confession found on a wooden bench in a Bundaberg park was written by Previte. The confession read: "I Throw The Girl of the Brige I am sorry" (sic)?
Some letters written by Previte to his family were used in comparison tests. In one letter, Previte admitted "knowing someone in every jail in Queensland" and in another he vented his anger against a family member?
Bent police
Justice Cate Holmes said she had concerns about the letters when there appeared to have been "abundant" other material for tests?
"It may not loom so large here but it is not an attractive approach," she said.
Justice Holmes said for her part the letters couldn't be described as anything but prejudicial, however, there did not appear to have been any objections to them going into evidence at the trial?
Mr Hunter said the prejudice of the letters' contents far outweighed their probative value, and a direction should have been given on the use the jury could make of them.
Mr Hunter said there were discrepancies in the evidence which meant Previte's confessions to a fellow prisoner, and later police, should not have been admitted into evidence????
Director of Public Prosecutions Leanne Clare said the unsafe and unsatisfactory ground came down to the reliability of Previte's police interview????????
"There is no evidence as to why he would have made a false confession," she said?
Related:
Douglas Previte set-up for Stuttle murder?
Ian Douglas Previte should have been enjoying his life but instead Previte went down for a murder he most likely never committed?
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