NCA bomber Domenic Perre says he is an innocent victim of a miscarriage of justice, just like Cardinal George Pell
Bombing murderer Domenic Perre has compared himself to Australia’s top Catholic, saying both were innocent men wrongly convicted of infamous crimes.
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Convicted murderer and NCA bomber Domenic Perre says he is an innocent man found guilty through a miscarriage of justice – and compared himself to Cardinal George Pell.
The Advertiser can reveal that Perre wants the Court of Appeal not to overturn his convictions over the 1994 crime but to dismiss them completely, without any hope of retrial.
In court papers, Perre’s legal team says there is “a significant possibility an innocent person has been convicted”, just as the High Court ruled in Cardinal Pell’s case.
They say all of the evidence gathered against their client over the past 28 years is wholly circumstantial and cannot prove he built, delivered or ever possessed the bomb.
The only way to “establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof’’, they assert, is by accepting unproven claims, rejecting evidence of innocence and believing “unsafe” witnesses.
“Perre was deprived of the benefit of reasonable doubt … a ‘pathway to guilt’ was devised, but it was not the only reasonable explanation,” the papers assert.
Perre, 65, was convicted and jailed for life by the Supreme Court for the murder of Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen and the attempted murder of lawyer Peter Wallis.
Justice Kevin Nicholson was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Perre had constructed and sent the bomb with the intention of killing Detective Sergeant Bowen.
In their 54-page challenge to that decision, Perre’s legal team repeatedly cites the case of Cardinal Pell, who was twice convicted of child sex abuse.
The High Court overturned those verdicts on appeal, saying there was “a significant possibility” an innocent man had been convicted on evidence that “did not establish guilt”.
Perre’s team asserts a trial judge “acting rationally” should have “entertained reasonable doubt” about their client’s guilt.
They say Justice Nicholson gave weight to “unproven” claims Perre “felt antipathy toward law enforcement” and “came across as a person not to be trifled with”.
They dismiss the evidence of former acquaintances and cellmates, each of whom attested to his guilt, as “inconsistent”, “inadequate”, filled with “discrepancies”.
Justice Nicholson was wrong, they assert, to “put exculpatory evidence to one side” and believe those men – especially self-taught gunsmith Allan “Gadget” Chamberlain.
Immediately after the bombing, police seized explosives equipment and manuals from his farm, but he claimed they belonged to Perre and was a key prosecution witness.
“It is ironic that the man who was found in possession of (that equipment) was not inculpated or even charged, and yet the man who was not, was convicted,” Perre’s team says.
The court will hear Perre’s challenge in February.
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