"The dingo took my baby"

[Gob]

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and her ex-husband Michael Chamberlain have entered the Darwin Magistrates Court where the fourth inquest into the death of their daughter Azaria will get under way.
On a warm cloudy day neither parent spoke to the waiting media as they walked into the courthouse.

Coroner Elizabeth Morris is to conduct the fourth inquest into the death of nine-week-old Azaria, who disappeared from her parents' tent at Uluru (Ayers Rock) in August 1980.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton arrives at Darwin Coroners Court for the latest inquest into the 1982 death of her nine-week-old daughter Azaria. Photo: Glenn Campbell

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton has sought the latest inquest in a bid to have the cause of death of Azaria changed from "unknown" to reflect that a dingo killed the little girl.

Court officials have said Ms Morris will not make any decision on the cause of death immediately after today's proceedings and it could be some time before her findings are made public.

Rex Wild will act as counsel assisting the coroner and Stuart Tipple will represent Azaria's parents.

A former police detective sergeant who was hired by the court to investigate the matter, Anne Lade, is expected to give evidence.

The disappearance of Azaria more than three decades ago sparked court cases that saw Mrs Chamberlain, as she was then known, sentenced to life in prison in 1982.

Mr Chamberlain was given a suspended sentence after being found guilty of being an accessory after the fact.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton has always said she saw a dingo leaving her tent on the night Azaria went missing.

After Azaria's matinee jacket was found in 1986 the case was reopened and a royal commission in 1987 exonerated both parents.

Ahead of today's inquest Mr Tipple said the two parents of Azaria were remarkable people who were not bitter after what they had endured.

"What they really want to do is to get the message out there and to make sure that this sort of tragedy never ever happens again," Mr Tipple told ABC radio.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/azari ... z1nGCVt2md

[Scooter]

With no body and no one witnessing her being carried off, I think it would be difficult for a coroner to state with any reasonable amount of certainty that a dingo did it. "There doesn't appear to be other possible cause" isn't evidence.

[Crackpot]

But they likely have enough evidence to say that it wasn't ritual sacrifice. What this is about is a countries unwillingnes to admit that they demonized and wrongfully imprisoned someone on little to no evidence.

[Lord Jim]

Rex Wild will act as counsel assisting the coroner and Stuart Tipple will represent Azaria's parents.

Great, a wild man and a drunk going at it...

Should be an interesting hearing...

[Scooter]

And the appropriate finding, when there is no evidence, is "cause of death unknown."

I get why she wants this to happen, but she is asking the coroner to reach an unfounded conclusion. And I don't know if they can rule out ritual sacrifice or not, the people who would do that could easily be cannibals.

[The Hen]

Of course the WORST thing about this case was Meryl Streep's APPALLING accent in Evil Angels.

[BoSoxGal]

There was evidence at the very first inquest that determined a dingo attack was the cause; blood in the tent & baby basket, dingo tracks leading from the tent, the tracks were followed and at various point impressions in the sand were located that matched the baby's clothing.

Since then, the missing article of clothing was found in close proximity of a number of dingo lairs.

And of course, it turns out there are hundreds of dingo attacks on children and adults documented in Australia.

The parents deserve this finding after the way their lives were torn asunder by overzealous law enforcement and prosecutors.

I hope they get it.

[The Hen]

Surprisingly, there was not the known number of attacks on kids when Azaria was taken. That was one of the points that most found difficult to accept at the time.

[Gob]

[rubato]

Surprisingly, there was not the known number of attacks on kids when Azaria was taken. That was one of the points that most found difficult to accept at the time.

The conviction was based on incompetence and bigotry. She paid a heavy price for it.


yrs,
rubato

[The Hen]

Yes, she did.

[Gob]

It is now official: Azaria Chamberlain not quite 10 weeks old, was snatched from a bassinet at Uluru (then known as Ayers Rock) on August 17, 1980, killed and probably devoured by a dingo.

This morning, the Northern Territory Deputy Coroner, Elizabeth Morris, ended 32 years of speculation and innuendo by putting what appears to be the final seal on the case.


Delivering her finding in the Darwin Magistrates Court, Ms Morris said: "In considering all the evidence I am satisfied the evidence is sufficiently cogent and excludes all other reasonable possibilities defined what occurred.

"That was that after Mrs Chamberlain placed Azaria in the tent, a dingo or dingoes entered the tent, attacked Azaria and dragged or carried her from the area."

Ms Morris said she accepted the findings of the Royal Commission, conducted by Justice Trevor Morling in 1986-87, which had painstakingly gone through all aspects of the forensic evidence.

She also took into account three deaths of children, in Queensland, NSW, and Victoria following attacks by dingoes or dingo-cross dogs.

She said: "Mr and Mrs Chamberlain, Aidan and your extended families, please accept my sincere sympathy over the death of your dear and loved daughter Azaria."

Ms Morris said that amended death certificates had already been prepared stating that a dingo had taken the baby and they were ready for collection by Michael and Lindy Chamberlain immediately after the court adjourned.

The hearing was an ironic repeat of the first coroner's inquest in 1980-81 when Michael and LIndy Chamberlain had sat together before Coroner Dennis Barrett, who agreed to telecast his findings nationwide that a dingo had taken the baby.

Since then, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain had been divorced and both had remarried.

But in Darwin last night, they hugged each other and in the court this morning they sat together, with family members beside them.


http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-32 ... 2071l.html

[BoSoxGal]

At last; justice.

[rubato]

Well said.

yrs,
rubato