How the death of Anna-Jane Cheney stopped South Australia in its tracks
THE death of young, talented and popular lawyer Anna-Jane Cheney was a whodunit which stopped South Australia in its tracks.
THE death of young, talented and popular lawyer Anna-Jane Cheney two decades ago stopped South Australia in its tracks.
This was no domestic dispute between two unemployed drug addicts in the recesses of Adelaide’s less attractive suburbs. This was a crime involving an affluent couple in the eastern suburbs with a plot worthy of a bestseller.
From the start, it was an intriguing whodunit about love, greed, betrayal, adultery — and murder. A tragic story about a beautiful young woman with everything to live for and a married man 10 years her senior.
When Henry Keogh, a 39-year-old State Bank financial adviser, was arrested, South Australians were shocked. Overnight, the case became the subject of discussion, debate and speculation across the state.
How could a recently separated man — who left his wife and children to be with an attractive, intelligent lawyer — allegedly drown her in a bath, supposedly to cash in on a $1 million life insurance policy?
His Supreme Court trial — six weeks before they had been due to marry — captivated the state. Long queues formed daily as onlookers jostled for seats to hear the latest revelations.
They listened as the jury heard how Keogh had forged Anna-Jane’s signature at least 30 times on life insurance policies and cheques, that he had allegedly plotted for two years to kill her and that he was seeing at least two other women throughout their relationship.
Then came the sensational theory that he had drowned Anna-Jane using “the brides in the bath” method, based on a historical British case where a man had killed three wives on honeymoons by bending their legs and holding them under water until they drowned.
The jury could not decide if Keogh was guilty so he faced a second trial, which found he had killed Anna-Jane.
Keogh, who has always protested his innocence, was sentenced to 25 years in prison but the case was far from over. In fact, it had barely begun.
Within months, his supporters launched what would become a 20-year campaign to free him based on what they have steadfastedly argued was flawed forensic evidence presented at his two trials.
Much of the evidence involved an autopsy performed by a former forensic pathologist at the State Forensic Science Centre, Dr Colin Manock, and whether it proved Keogh drowned Anna-Jane or, as his supporters suggest, she suffered some kind of seizure.
Regularly seen on Adelaide’s streets and major roads was a semi-trailer emblazoned with the slogan “Free Henry Keogh” while his case frequently featured on the current affairs program, Today Tonight.
The crusade to free Keogh went to the High Court, state governors, various Supreme Court judges and former deputy premier Kevin Foley who, after commissioning a review, ruled there was no reason to release him.
On Monday, Keogh finally walked out of prison, 20 years after he was locked away. Whether he returns remains to be seen.
How the case unfolded
March 1994: Lawyer Anna-Jane Cheney, 28, is found dead in the bath of her Magill home.
May 1994: Henry Keogh, Ms Cheney’s fiance at the time of her death, is arrested and charged with murder over her death. He was remanded in custody throughout the murder trial, during which the prosecution alleged Keogh had drowned Ms Cheney to gain more than $1 million in insurance. Keogh’s defence lawyers argued Ms Cheney had drowned accidentally.
March 1995: A hung jury fails to reach a verdict in Keogh’s murder trial, triggering a retrial.
August 1995: A Supreme Court jury finds Keogh guilty of Ms Cheney’s murder.
December 1995: Keogh’s appeal against his conviction is heard in the Court of Criminal Appeal and dismissed.
February 1996: A non-parole period of 25 years is handed to Keogh.
January 1999: Keogh writes to South Australian Governor Sir Eric Neal, pleading to be pardoned from his life prison sentence.
June 2007: The Court of Criminal Appeal dismisses another of Keogh’s applications for a retrial.
July 2013: Under new laws allowing the court to hear an appeal, even after all appeal rights have been exhausted, if “fresh and compelling evidence” emerges, lawyers for Keogh mount another challenge.
March 2014: The Supreme Court finds that it is “reasonably arguable” that Keogh suffered “a substantial miscarriage of justice”. The case is referred to the Full Court of the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Last Friday: The Full Court of the Court of Criminal Appeal rules there had been a “substantial miscarriage of justice”, grants Keogh a retrial and sets aside his conviction.
Monday: Keogh is granted bail in the Supreme Court and is able to leave prison for the first time in almost 20 years.