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 (known then as Ayers 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 forensic evidence that was eventually found to be deeply flawed.
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.