SENILE JUDGE KEEPS INNOCENT MAN IN JAIL FOR 21 MONTHS

The following account appeared in "The Australian" newspaper of December 10th. (Excerpts):

Bradley James Mawdesley has been acquitted of murder after four trials and spending 21 months behind bars. His first two trials were aborted after the then West Australian Chief Justice David Malcolm made a string of errors and a witness blurted out prejudicial information to the jury.

The third trial was abandoned after the jury was deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict. But a jury took just over five hours to reach a not guilty verdict late on Thursday, acquitting Mr Mawdesley of the murder of 34-year old father of two.

The Weekend Australian has previously been denied access to the transcript of the second trial, which Justice Malcolm aborted. The Supreme Court refused to release the transcript before the outcome of the retrial. During the trial before Justice Malcolm, defence counsel Richard Utting submitted that the jury should be discharged, saying the trial had "run off the rails".

Last July, the Court of Appeal quashed a manslaughter conviction after finding Justice Malcolm had misdirected a jury. After months of speculation about his health, the Chief Justice last month announced his retirement from the bench...

Mr Mawdesley was accused of killing Dunstan by running him down with a car in March last year and has been held in custody ever since. Mr Utting said the 28-year-old had spent more than 21 months in prison and was relieved to finally have a verdict. "He is obviously very, very relieved it's over," Mr Utting said. "He has spent a long time in custody for offences that the jury has now found him not guilty of. "But notwithstanding the jury verdict that this was a tragic accident, he will carry the burden of what has happened for the rest of his life."...

The prosecution alleged Mr Mawdesley used his car as a murder weapon to kill Dunstan, who was catapulted 15m into the air after being struck by the vehicle.


Update

An account of the above matter has just appeared online here. Excerpt:

"Bradley James Mawdesley walked free from jail yesterday after four murder trials and 21 months behind bars and with almost $10,000 in fines to pay. Mr Mawdesley was found not guilty last week of murdering 34-year-old father-of-two Dale Dunstan by running him down with his car in a Perth suburb in March last year.

But the 28-year-old has admitted that at the time of the accident he was driving while his licence was suspended - his third such conviction - and has built up more than $9000 in unpaid fines.

Mr Mawdesley, who was whisked away from Perth's maximum security Hakea prison yesterday, had his first trial aborted in May after a witness blurted out prejudicial information to the jury.

His second trial began the next day but was aborted after West Australian Chief Justice David Malcolm, who has since retired after months of speculation about his health, made a string of errors in his summing up to the jury, prompting defence counsel Richard Utting to submit that the trial had "run off the rails"."


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