The Un-making of a murder: The Wrongful Convictions Of Henry Keogh and Derek Bromley

In an ABC 4 Corners program in October 2001 we first put forward the claim that Henry Keogh had been wrongly convicted - and that there were serious systemic problems which had led to that conviction.

The Chief pathologist in South Australia for some 30 years had not been properly qualified and had given plainly incorrect evidence in a number of important cases (which we will refer to) including the deaths of some young babies. Yet, try as we may we could not get the Keogh case back to the appeal court for review. Eventually, we managed to persuade the parliament to legislate to create a new right of appeal. Only then was further fresh evidence revealed to show that senior legal officials had been briefed nearly 10 years earlier on the fact that the death was an accident and not a murder.

Why did Mr Keogh have to wait so long to be released? This is a unique 'real-crime' story, the likes of which has never occurred before in Australia, Britain or Canada. Even today the legal system has not yet acknowledged the true extent of the wrong-doing which has occurred. The case of Mr Bromley which is soon to be heard by the High Court will surely lead to the establishment of a Royal Commission which is the only means by which we can fully expose the true extent of wrongful convictions in South Australia.

Bio

Dr Robert Moles is one of Australia's leading researchers on miscarriages of justice. He is the author / joint author of four books on this topic and has been involved with 130 national and SA television and radio programs including recent podcasts available at the Networked Knowledge website. Dr Moles helped to create a new right of appeal in South Australian criminal cases - the first major change in the appeal rights anywhere in Australia in over 100 years. It was that change that led to the overturning of the conviction of Henry Keogh after he had served over 20 years in prison for a crime which never occurred. Derek Bromley remains in prison after serving 35 years - and Dr Moles believes he will be the next case to be overturned.

8:30pm @Alma Tavern, 66 Magill Road, NORWOOD 5067

Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Fiona Kerr.