Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton | |
|---|---|
 Chamberlain in a 1986 news broadcast | |
| Born | Alice Lynne Murchison 4 March 1948 Whakatāne, New Zealand |
| Known for | Imprisoned for three years after being falsely convicted of the murder of her 9-week-old daughter, Azaria (later exonerated) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Aidan (born 1973) Reagan (born 1976) Azaria (June–August 1980) Kahlia (born 1982) |
Alice Lynne "Lindy" Chamberlain-Creighton (née Murchison; born 4 March 1948) is a New Zealand–born Australian woman who was falsely convicted in one of Australia's most publicised and notorious murder trials and miscarriages of justice. Accused of killing her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru (a.k.a. Ayres Rock) in 1980, she maintained that she saw a dingo leave the tent where Azaria was sleeping. The prosecution case was circumstantial and depended upon deeply flawed forensic evidence.
Chamberlain was convicted on 29 October 1982,[1] and her appeals to the Federal Court of Australia,[2] and High Court of Australia,[3] were dismissed. On 7 February 1986, after the discovery of new evidence — clothing the same as Azaria wore — Chamberlain was released from prison on remission. She and her husband Michael Chamberlain, co-accused, were officially pardoned in 1987,[1] and their convictions were quashed by the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 1988.[4] In 1992, the Australian government paid Chamberlain $1.3 million in compensation.[5] In 2012, a fourth coroner's inquest found (as did the first inquest) that Azaria died "as a result of being attacked and taken by a dingo".[1]
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
nswLIACwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Chamberlain v The Queen [1983] FCA 78, (1983) 72 FLR 1; (1983) 46 ALR 493.
- ^ Chamberlain v The Queen (No.2) [1984] HCA 7, (1984) 153 CLR 521.
- ^ Re Conviction of Chamberlain [1988] NTCCA 3, (1988) 93 FLR 239.
- ^ Linder, Doug, Professor, The Trial of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain: A Chronology, University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, 1995–2011.