Dna Blunder Sinks Kill Trial

The Age

Thursday August 7, 2008

Peter Gregory, Richard Baker and Tom Arup

EMBARRASSED after withdrawing "cold case" double murder charges, Victoria Police has begun reviewing 7000 files to make sure DNA evidence has not been contaminated.

After announcing last month that dramatic improvements in DNA technology led to 43-year-old Russell John Gesah being charged with murdering mother and daughter Margaret and Seana Tapp in 1984, police yesterday dropped the charges.

Mr Gesah was told about the move in a Melbourne Magistrates Court hearing, a police spokesman said.

Lawyers accused police of rushing to name Mr Gesah and said the case might have left open the avenue for him to sue for negligence.

The acting head of the police forensics division, John Scheffer, last night strenuously denied that he had found out only yesterday about the concerns, after sources told The Age that staff did not learn of the review until it was announced by police.

Lawyers who had represented Mr Gesah in the case said last night they could not comment because they had not yet been able to speak to him.

Police Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland told a press conference that it was embarrassing to have to make the announcement. But he said the charges had been withdrawn after a laboratory review had identified possible contamination of biological evidence.

He said police had already reviewed 500 of 7000 other criminal cases - some of which are believed to be high-profile rape and murder cases - in a bid to identify whether other potential problems had been undetected. He said the checks had identified no further difficulties.

Such contamination would not occur today because of more stringent cleaning processes in line with more sensitive DNA testing systems, he said.

Margaret, 35, and Seana Tapp, 9, were found murdered in their Ferntree Gully home in August 1984. Police said last month that both had been strangled.

The case is not the first in which DNA evidence has been contaminated. In 2003, Mr Scheffer told an inquest on Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie that since late 1999, 39 cases had been identified as requiring "diagnostic and corrective action", with most involving contamination.

In the Leskie case, unrelated DNA from a rape victim was found on the toddler's clothing during a 2003 check of the centre's DNA database.

Commenting on this in his October 2006 Leskie inquest findings, Coroner Graeme Johnstone concluded: "Clearly, contamination occurred somewhere in the laboratory process. Precisely how and where this has occurred in the laboratory has not been able to be determined."

Yesterday the Law Institute of Victoria said it appeared the decision to charge Mr Gesah was premature and the case was a reminder that DNA evidence was not infallible.

Representing the Victorian Criminal Bar, barrister Ian Freckelton, SC, said an avenue for civil action for Mr Gesah might be open if negligence and substantial injustice could be proven.

Shadow attorney-general Andrew McIntosh said the DNA bungle was terribly sad for the Tapp family and an indictment on the Victorian Government.

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Bob Cameron said the Government would not comment on the specifics of the DNA bungle relating to the Tapp murder case.

She rejected criticism of the Government's funding of police forensic services, saying Mr Overland had yesterday made it clear the DNA contamination was a result of human error and not a lack of resources.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Russell Gesah's DNA was found on a piece of clothing from the scene of the murder of Margaret and Seana Tapp, for which he was charged. But police later discovered that, on the same day, Gesah's DNA was also matched to an unrelated case. This left open the possibility of contamination between the two tests. As a result, police dropped the murder charge and apologised to Gesah.

WHAT POLICE ARE DOING ABOUT IT

Police are now reviewing 7000 cases in which multiple DNA matches have been made against the same person. They want to find out whether any of these, as in the case of Gesah, were made on the same day. If there are any other instances, those cases could be undermined.

WHAT ABOUT HIGH PROFILE CASES?

Police say they have already reviewed 500 "serious" cases including murders, rapes and armed robberies and have discovered no further cases of multiple DNA matches on the same day.

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is a complex molecule found in all living cells. It contains information used in everyday metabolism and growth and influences most of our characteristics. Each of us has a unique DNA profile or fingerprint.

© 2008 The Age

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