Editorial: Gerard Baden-Clay doesn’t deserve benefit of the doubt

EDITORIAL: GERARD Baden-Clay lied about his life and relationships before he killed his wife and lied in court when asked to explain himself. He will always be seen as the man who killed Allison.

THE killing of Allison Baden-Clay shocked the Queensland community as the tale emerged of a young woman missing, then found dead – her body discarded on the banks of Kholo Creek in the semi-rural beauty of the outer western Brisbane suburbs.

Ten days after her husband, Gerard Baden-Clay, his face freshly scratched, reported her missing, Allison’s body was found and, subsequently, he was charged with murder.

There followed an extraordinary court case, in which a tale of deceit, betrayal, adultery and extraordinary self-obsession unfolded and held the public spellbound. Soon everyone had an opinion as daily evidence and testimony became regular topics in cafes, offices and crib rooms. It seemed to just about everyone that Baden-Clay’s protests of complete innocence – despite his duplicitous treatment of his wife – could not be accepted. This was enforced by conclusive evidence of Baden-Clay’s persistent untruthfulness with his business colleagues, friends and even his mistress.

The court heard of a man who only thought of himself, who was fortunate in business and life, building a successful career and enjoying a loving family.

MORE NEWS: How the shock decision unfolded

FREEDOM BID: Why Baden-Clay could walk soon

ALLISON: A missing person like no other

DECISION: Read the full judgment here

PUBLIC REACTION: Outrage following decision

However, Baden-Clay not only regarded all this as his right, he wanted more. He wanted personal gratification outside the family home and, when his business started struggling, he covered up and ran up big debts – all the while hiding the truth from those close to him.

Today’s Courier-Mail front page.

When the Supreme Court jury handed down its guilty verdict in July last year, the people of Queensland felt justice had been done. They might now have heard what the family of Allison deserved to hear – an explanation of just what happened that night and why – but the feeling was the man responsible for Allison’s death had been identified and the court had considered all the evidence and come to a reasonable and sound conclusion.

Now, everyone is shocked again.

This time an Appeal Court bench – composed of Chief Justice Catherine Holmes, and Justices Hugh Fraser and Robert Gotterson – has quashed Baden-Clay’s murder verdict and replaced it with one of being guilty of manslaughter. The judges have decided the jury’s verdict was not sound: it was unreasonable because it did not follow consideration of an alternative hypothesis – that an argument about Baden-Clay’s unfaithfulness escalated into violence and resulted in accidental death, with a panicked husband then disposing of the body.

There was no admission that this did happen – it was presented by ­Baden-Clay’s counsel as an hypothesis only – and not an explanation of what the accused did.

According to the public record, his steadfast denial of having anything to do with Allison’s murder stands.

The Appeal Court’s decision gives Baden-Clay the benefit of the doubt in what was – regardless of which story is accepted – an act of domestic violence.

That may be true, but the Appeal Court considered the criminal burden of proof rather than contemporary community sentiment. And even if the Appeal Court’s extraordinary decision is accepted, Baden-Clay is a violent coward who took a life.

He lied about his life and relationships before he killed his wife and lied in court when asked to explain himself. He has never faced up to what he did and never taken responsibility for his actions.

Baden-Clay has never deserved the benefit of the doubt. He will always be seen as the man who killed Allison.

HASTEN SLOWLY ON REFINERY

THE loss of jobs at any time is unfortunate. The loss of almost 800 in Townsville weeks before Christmas is a tragedy. The region’s economy is feeling the flow-on effects of the resources downturn from many angles and now self-proclaimed billionaire Clive Palmer is holding to ransom the State Government and almost 800 employees of his Queensland Nickel refinery.

Mr Palmer was lauded by state and local governments when he picked up the ageing Yabulu nickel refinery from BHP Billiton in 2009. But that was at the start of the end of the commodities boom, and the factory needed significant investment. Not that that stopped Mr Palmer, who lavished Mercedes-Benz cars and overseas holidays on his newly acquired staff.

Now he unfairly is putting the onus on the Palaszczuk Government to save a private enterprise. A situation that has arisen largely because his ego has kept alive the court case which is bringing him asunder, long after any possible mediation could have saved these jobs.

Mr Palmer has proven again and again he is no corporate titan. He has cost jobs at a string of businesses he has bought in recent years, from the former Hyatt Coolum resort to a former Club Med in Tahiti. To sink taxpayer money into any venture that would not be profitable is irresponsible and we support the Palaszczuk Government’s decision to conduct forensic due diligence on the business before committing any assistance. The Premier and her Treasurer Curtis Pitt must not throw good money in after bad and if the best outcome is to deploy these workers to other industries, they must work with the Mayor of Townsville, Jenny Hill, and northern businesses to find other employment