Strawberry needle case continued three years after concerns raised

Concerns about the strength of the prosecution’s case against an accused strawberry saboteur had been raised nearly three years ago.

All charges against a woman accused of deliberately hiding needles in strawberries bound for the supermarket have sensationally been dropped after cracks appeared in the high-profile case, leaving the investigation under a cloud.

Concerns about the strength of the prosecution case against 53-year-old farm worker My Ut Trinh had been raised as early as her successful bail application in November 2018, but the charges were pursued at taxpayers’ expense until the 11th-hour backflip.

The Courier-Mail can now reveal a judge in recent days had dismissed an application to stop prosecutors from adducing evidence at trial showing alleged DNA links and untested claims by a witness who alleged Trinh told him: “If I hate anyone I will put the needle in the strawberry and make them go bankrupt.”

Trinh’s defence team had unsuccessfully sought to have the evidence excluded from her trial but despite the ruling in their favour, the Director of Public Prosecutions still opted to abandon the case on Wednesday morning just moments before a jury was to be empanelled.

The sudden decision to abandon the case and the fact the crime remains unsolved was met with widespread disappointment from the strawberry industry which was crippled by the 2018 sabotage that prompted hundreds of copycat cases and led to entire crops being dumped.

Defence lawyer Nick Dore had raised concerns about the veracity of the police case as early as November 2018 when Trinh applied for bail in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Former farm worker My Ut Trinh outside Brisbane District Court. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Mr Dore said outside court yesterday the DPP’s decision was a “huge relief” for his client, a grandmother and Vietnamese refugee who is an Australian citizen. “She sees today as being complete vindication in relation to what has occurred,” Mr Dore said.

“The decision made by the Director of Public Prosecutions was the right decision to be made when considering all of the evidence that was produced throughout the course of the very long and convoluted prosecution.”

When asked how she was feeling about the charges being dropped, Trinh, who speaks very little English told media “yeah really good thank you”.

The decision came after Trinh’s defence team made a series of pre-trial applications seeking to have evidence excluded from the trial.

It had been alleged during a pre-trial hearing DNA evidence including Trinh’s was discovered on one of two needles which were sent to a forensic laboratory in Victoria in the same bag with the strawberry they were found inside of.

During the hearing, a forensic scientist said it was possible the “DNA of a person touching a strawberry in the field could be transferred to a needle later secreted in that or another strawberry”.

Trinh’s defence team had argued there was a “plausible and innocent explanation” open on the evidence for her DNA being on the needle, such as a secondary transfer through the course of her work.

The court heard there were concerns the evidence could have a “CSI effect” on a jury whereby they would be overwhelmed by the weight of scientific evidence but Judge Byrne said that concern could be mitigated and allowed the evidence to be produced at trial.

One of the strawberries found with a needle on a supermarket shelf. Picture: Facebook/Joshua Gane

The judge also dismissed a second application by the defence seeking to exclude testimony about a conversation Trinh allegedly had with a friend one to two years before the sabotage.

“His (the witness) recollection is that she, for no apparent reason and while smirking, said words to the effect, ‘If I hate anyone I will put the needle in the strawberry and make them go bankrupt’,” Judge Byrne said.

The judge said while there were “weaknesses” with that evidence, he would permit it to be adduced at trial.

Judge Byrne did however grant an application by Trinh’s lawyers to exclude evidence about another conversation that occurred prior to the sabotage in which she argued with another supervisor who came to work in her patch and claimed it was because their boss Kevin told him to.

“(The other supervisor) told her they were doing it because ‘Kevin’ told them to and she replied ‘I don’t care about Kevin I don’t care about Kevin’.”

The prosecution contended that the incident was evidence of a deterioration in the business relationship between Kevin Tran and Trinh but Judge Byrne said it seemed to suggest animosity toward the other supervisor, not her boss.

Berries Australia executive director Rachel Mackenzie said there was “widespread disappointment” throughout the strawberry industry that the crime remains unsolved.

“The industry was looking for some closure on it,” she said.

“It did have an enormous impact both financial but also psychological as well.

“It was a very challenging time for the growers so the lack of closure on this is obviously challenging.”