Last year, at the end of twenty days of proceedings and seven and a half hours of deliberation, a jury found Brett Peter Cowan guilty of the murder of Daniel Morcombe. Throughout the course of the investigation it was found that Cowan had previously been convicted of child sex offenses and had confessed to assaulting up to thirty other minors before he himself was 18.
The result was life in prison and a non-parole period of 20 years.
Today the jury’s guilty verdict was upheld and a concurrent appeal by Queensland’s former attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie, to extend Cowan’s 20-year non-parole period, was dismissed. At the time of the original sentencing Supreme Court Justice Roslyn Atkinson told Cowan:
“I am not of the view that you should be released in 20 years’ time…that is not in my control…whenever anyone is considering the prospect of granting you parole in the future they should mark my words that you are a convincing, plausible and adaptable liar.”
His subsequent appeal was based on six grounds, including “potential prejudicial media coverage during the trial.” His lawyer Tim Meehan also asserted that throughout the course of the incredibly impressive police operations surrounding the case – the particulars of which can be found here – Cowan had been coerced into giving a false confession in exchange for the promise of millions of dollars, rendering the evidence inadmissible under the inducement of money and gang membership.
Upon being knocked back Meehan maintained his ‘belief’ that the police had “overstepped the mark” during investigations and said of Cowan’s expectations going in to the appeal that “he has been quite realistic.”
“He will be happy that we actually have a decision,” said Meehan. ” He then stated his next step would be to confer with his client regarding further appeals process: “Available to him is a special leave application to the High Court, and that’s what we will be pursuing.”
Bruce Morcombe was present for the decision and spoke on his son, saying that despite not having seen him for 11 years he will never be forgotten. He also said he “was never fearful it was going to go the other way” because he always had faith in the justice system:
“Good police work … has resulted in a guilty person being maintained with a guilty verdict … that’s the right thing. We don’t have to worry about Mr Cowan, he’s locked up for probably the rest of his life.”“Today we hope that Mr Cowan doesn’t forget his actions. He will spend 20 years in jail and we hope they are tough. It’s very mixed emotions, really, it has been a long process. It is not a moment of celebration, but reflection. It is relief, but who knows, it may not be the end. We will wait and see.”
Image by Chris Hyde via Getty.
