Ex-director of scandal-plagued lab grilled over ‘concerns’ of sexual assault DNA tests

The former director of a state-run lab has ben grilled on the stand about his management and issues raised over DNA tests involving sexual assault cases.

The former head of a state-run forensics lab, which has come under scrutiny for its poor practices in testing crime scene samples, has told an inquiry that he had “concerns” after a scientist raised issues about testing processes impacting the outcome of sexual assault proceedings.

Paul Csoban, a former executive director at Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services until 2018, gave evidence that he hired an external expert to undertake a scientific investigation into the concerns, which were raised by scientist Amanda Reeves.

He had previously given evidence at the commission of inquiry into DNA testing in Queensland but was recalled on Thursday, where he was grilled over how he handled the investigation.

Paul Csoban was grilled on his management of the lab.

“At that stage, I was not aware there were others who shared that concern,” Mr Csoban said.

The commission of inquiry into the scandal-plagued lab was called following a decision in 2018 to stop testing samples from crime scenes that only contained small amounts of DNA.

Former Court of Appeal judge Walter Sofronoff has slammed the lab’s action, saying it may have resulted in lines of police investigation or prosecution into criminal cases being “unnecessarily abandoned”.

Scientists may also have given untrue statements about the detection of DNA in crime scene samples, he wrote in his interim report.

“(It) is a profound issue for the administration of criminal justice, for the integrity of police investigations and for decisions made by victims of crime,” Mr Sofronoff said.

On Thursday, Mr Csoban said Ms Reeves had disclosed concerns about the validity of tests they had carried out on semen samples.

According to her, the issues surrounding the testing could potentially impact the outcome of sexual assault proceedings.

The inquiry was told Mr Csoban asked for a report from an external expert into the flagged issues but believed it was a problem with the standards of practice (SOP) at the lab itself.

DNA testing at the lab is being examined by a commission of inquiry in Brisbane.

He gave evidence that he believed the SOP was leading to “erroneous results”.

Michael Hodge KC, counsel assisting the commissioner, put to Mr Csoban that he approached the issue “superficially”.

“I treated this as a scientific issue, I took this very seriously,” he responded.

Mr Csoban rejected suggestions that it was an “issue of personality” between Ms Reeves and the lab’s managing scientist, Cathie Allen, and he regarded Ms Reeves as a “difficult personality”.

“I took every reasonable step at the time,” he said.

The inquiry also turned to a debacle involving a confidential destruction bin and lab staff discarding documents that should have been retained.

Mr Csoban and Ms Allen had retrieved the documents that were not meant to be destroyed.

An email sent by Ms Allen was shown to the inquiry, with the senior scientist outlining a “shredding party” near Ms Reeves’ desk.

Another email sent by Ms Allen to the lab’s human resources department contained photos of the woman’s desk and items including a government-issued brochure on assault in the workplace and a note on her computer with a quote: “If I’m too strong for people that’s their problem.”

Scraps of paper near the desk were also photographed.

Mr Hodge said the email was not about trying to ascertain what documents ought to have been kept, asking if this was an appropriate attitude to management.

Mr Csoban said: “I was more concerned about the documents rather than an email sent to HR by Cathie.

“I would have to consider the context of the situation, as we had just gone through the process of sorting documents which had not been disposed of.

“Cathie felt there were breaches of the code of conduct, you would have to ask her … (she) always had a strong sense of right and wrong.”

The inquiry continues.

Originally published as Ex-director of scandal-plagued lab grilled over ‘concerns’ of sexual assault DNA tests