The High Court of Queensland has ruled that Gerard Baden-Clay murdered his wife, Allison Baden-Clay.
The court reinstated the murder conviction, originally handed to Baden-Clay in the initial trial, that was commuted down to a charge of manslaughter last December by the Court of Appeal in a ruling that sparked mass public outrage and calls for the Department of Public Prosecutions to challenge.
The High Court unanimously allowed the appeal, reinstating the conviction of murder, and in the process ruling that the Court of Appeals had erred in allowing Baden-Clay’s initial appeal to be upheld on the grounds that “prosecution had failed to exclude the hypothesis that the respondent unintentionally killed his wife.“
The case is extremely rare for the High Court. Prior to this morning’s ruling, Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts stated that only around 3 times in the past ten years has the Queensland High Court been asked to overrule a judgment from the Court of Appeals, and that overall as little as 5% of cases that request leave to appear before the High Court have those requests actually granted.
After the ruling was handed down, Potts described verdict as “a red letter day” for justice in Queensland.
“What this simply means, is the justice system works.”
Allison’s close friend Kerry-Anne Walker read an impassioned statement to media outside the courthouse, praising the High Court for upholding and honouring the original verdict.
Her statement, in full, reads as follows:
“Today’s decision in the High Court comes with both relief and elation. Despite many Queenslanders being labelled as ignorant when they protested the downgrade to manslaughter, the common sense of the original jury has prevailed and justice for Allison has finally been realised. The ignorance lay elsewhere.
The law has acknowledged what we, who were closest to her, knew from that very morning Allison went missing – that is – that she was murdered. Gerard Baden-Clay murdered his amazing wife Allison.The evidence in the original trial displayed his intent as well as his character.Today’s decision brings an end to Gerard’s attempts to smear Allison’s name. If some were in doubt as to his true nature, his behaviour after Allison disappeared and during the trial must have removed that doubt.Four and a half years ago, three beautiful girls went to bed with a mother, and next morning awoke without one. He let them and the whole community worry and anguish about what had happened.In a fair and open trial, a jury found that there was enough evidence to convict Gerard Baden-Clay of murder. They felt there was motive and certainly intent. Thankfully today Australia’s High Court judges agree with this decision and have reinstated a conviction of Murder.Allison loved being a wife and a mother and worked incredibly hard to do both to the best of her ability. Even though it has been said many times before … she was indeed an amazing woman.Her legacy will be her beautiful three girls who, surrounded now by their memories of Allison and the love and support of Allison’s devoted family, are thriving in their busy lives. All who know them are confident they will go on to achieve great things. I am in awe every day of how well Allison’s parents Geoff and Pricilla and her sister Vanessa deal with their day to day busy lives. The girls are certainly a tribute to them.I would like to thank and acknowledge again the Department of Public Prosecution, the Queensland Police Service and all those that helped with the case – your tireless work and passion for the truth will never be forgotten and you should be also very pleased with today’s decision.To all of Allison’s friends and family, the media, special guest speakers and members of the public – who supported the ‘Do it for Allison” campaign last year after the initial downgrading of the charge to manslaughter we would like to say a huge thank you … In particular I would personally like to thank Bevan Slattery and Nicole Morrison who initiated the rally in response to the public outcry.Lastly – To all of Allison’s friends and family that have during this process been there every step of the way (you know who you are), I thank you and don’t have to tell you she would be so very proud.”
Gerard Baden-Clay will now serve his life sentence, which carries a non-parole period of 15 years.
Source: Brisbane Times.
Photo: Twitter.
