Convicted double child-murderer Dieter Pfennig will appeal against his conviction at taxpayer expense
EXCLUSIVE: Dieter Pfennig, the two-time child murderer who refuses to reveal where Louise Bell and Michael Black are buried, will challenge his conviction — and wants taxpayers to foot the bill.
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DIETER Pfennig, the two-time child murderer who refuses to reveal where Louise Bell and Michael Black are buried, has challenged his conviction — and wants taxpayers to foot the bill.
Instead of heeding a judge’s call to end two families’ suffering, Pfennig has doubled down and will claim the Supreme Court was wrong to accept cutting-edge DNA evidence as proof of his guilt.
Despite the former schoolteacher’s continued claims of innocence, his latest legal challenge may not even make it to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
To secure the thousands of taxpayer dollars his lawyers need, Pfennig must first convince the Legal Services Commission his case has a reasonable prospect of success.
That is likely to be an obstacle for the twice-convicted killer, following the rejection of his mid-trial request for an additional $250,000 in legal aid.
On Thursday, Legal Services Commission of SA director Gabrielle Canny said Pfennig’s case would, like all applications, be processed under “very rigorous guidelines”.
“I completely understand the deep public concern about this case and the crime it relates to,” she said.
“I want to assure South Australians that applications for grants of legal aid must meet very, very strict requirements — and this case is no different.”
Pfennig’s challenge comes amid growing discontent, around Australia, over the amount of legal aid money made available to, and spent by, offenders convicted of heinous crimes.
Vincent Stanford, who sexually assaulted and murdered bride-to-be teacher Stephanie Scott, is using the public purse to contest his sentence of life without parole in NSW.
Sydney nurse Roger Dean, who murdered 11 nursing home patients, has appealed against his life sentence twice in 12 months, failing both times.
The Tasmanian Supreme Court has urged legal aid to reconsider funding unprovoked, drunken murderer Stuart Barry Russell’s appeal.
And a Perth father who offered his daughter to other men in the “Evil 8” paedophile ring has drawn on taxpayer money to fight his 22-year jail term.
Pfennig, 68, was already serving a 38-year non-parole period for murdering Michael, 10, in 1989 when he was arrested over Louise’s death.
He was last week found guilty of abducting Louise, 10, from her Hackham West home in January 1983 and murdering her sometime later.
His conviction was in part secured by a one-in-a-billion DNA match on her discarded pyjama top, found by the Netherlands Forensic Institute and Forensic Science SA.
In an unprecedented exchange, Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael David challenged the killer to reveal where Louise’s and Michael’s bodies could be found.
Although Pfennig’s second life sentence is automatic, such a confession might affect his revised non-parole period, Acting Justice David said.
Under state law, offenders seeking to challenge a conviction must file an application with the Court of Criminal Appeal within 21 days of the verdict.
That application may be sparse on detail if it is filed to preserve an offender’s position while they seek legal aid.
The Advertiser understands that, during a prison visit on Tuesday, Pfennig instructed his counsel to again challenge the reliability of the DNA evidence.
Appeal papers were filed just before 5pm On Thursday.
It is understood Pfennig claims the sample was “contaminated” because the pyjama top had been submerged in the Onkaparinga River and washed with tap water.
His solicitors are expected to seek the opinion of senior counsel on other potential grounds of appeal.
They will also seek to convince the Legal Services Commission to fund the case.
Pfennig’s luck so far with the commission has been poor. In October 2015, his solicitors’ bid for $250,000 extra to fight the DNA case was rejected.
Ms Canny said an application from Pfennig would be assessed “according to the strict guidelines we are obliged to follow”.
“There has been no decision to provide legal aid to fund an appeal in this matter,” she said.
Should his application be refused, Pfennig would still have the option of appearing in court without counsel and representing himself.