Netherlands Forensic Institute science key in tracking down NCA bombing killers
SOUTH Australian detectives hope the Netherlands Forensic Institute can provide a vital breakthrough in the NCA bombing case, unsolved for more than 20 years.
IT has been credited with finding a one in one billion DNA match in the Louise Bell murder case and identifying all but two of the victims of the MH17 plane crash.
Now, South Australian detectives hope the Netherlands Forensic Institute can provide a vital breakthrough in the NCA bombing case that has remained unsolved for more than 20 years.
A total of 65 items associated with the bombing murder have been sent to the Netherlands for further evaluation by the world-leading DNA experts.
The institute’s exploits came to prominence in Adelaide when their work was aired earlier this year in Dieter Pfennig’s Supreme Court trial for the murder of Louise Bell.
The court heard that following analysis of Louise’s pyjama top, NFI had found a one in one billion DNA hit that linked Pfennig to the case about 30 years after she was killed.
The court also heard NFI:
IDENTIFIED all but two of the 296 people who died, when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, by their DNA profiles;
CONSULTS to both the Tribunal for Yugoslavia and the Tribunal for Sierra Leone, at The Hague; and
BOASTS a database of the Dutch population that is so complete, it can be used to match 100-year-old bodies to unsolved missing persons cases.
During the hearing, NFI reporting officer Bart Jan Blankers told the court his section specialised in Low Template DNA analysis.
“Low Template DNA analysis is usually considered to be the analysis of very limited amounts of DNA — very small amounts,” he said.
“It also deals with samples of DNA that have degraded over a long period of time.”
The institute’s work on the Louise Bell case has compelled SA Police to seek their expertise in further cold cases that are being reviewed.
In May, Commissioner Grant Stevens met with experts at the NFI in the Netherlands to discuss the NCA bombing case and the institute examining several items of evidence.
At the time, acting Assistant Commissioner Tom Osborn said it marked a significant development in the NCA bombing case.
“The institute is regarded as being at the forefront of DNA technology and this is reflected in the recent work undertaken by them on behalf of SAPOL in furtherance of the cold-case murder investigation into the 1983 disappearance of Louise Bell,” he said.