Wife killer Andrew Cobby to use Qld DNA lab failings to fight murder conviction

A man who brutally killed his wife in a violent hammer attack says fresh testing of the weapon sparked by DNA lab bungles will help him fight his murder conviction.

A man who brutally killed his wife in a violent hammer attack says fresh testing of the weapon sparked by an inquiry into the state’s DNA lab debacle has armed him with “significant” new evidence to fight his murder conviction.

Andrew John Cobby on Wednesday told a court he intended to use three new reports provided by Forensic and Scientific Services as part of his appeal, which he claims includes suggestions the hammer contained more than 20 DNA profiles from mystery contributors.

Kym Cobby was beaten with a hammer and choked to death in the driveway of her Gold Coast hinterland home in 2017.

Police photos from the Cobby crime scene including the hammer used to beat Kym Cobby. Photo Supplied QLD Police

Cobby claimed at his trial that he and his estranged wife had been set upon by a stranger in a random attack and that he fled into the bushes to hide while she was killed.

But a jury dismissed his story, finding him guilty of her murder for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Cobby, who is representing himself after sacking his legal team, appeared via videolink from prison for the review of his case in the Court of Appeal before Justice Philip Morrison on Wednesday.

He said fresh testing had been performed in the wake of an inquiry into the state’s DNA lab which uncovered widespread failings, including samples being reported as having no or insufficient DNA for testing.

“It is those three reports whereby there are significant alterations to the forensic results that we are now learning of subject to retesting that was not known at trial,” Cobby told the court on Wednesday.

Kym Cobby was brutally murdered outside her Gold Coast home.

“Therefore there are for example a significant number of DNA profiles that have been identified in the recent testing whereby the contributors at the moment, I’m working on it, but there are in excess of 21 forensic samples that the lab have identified that contain the DNA profiles of contributors whose identity remains unknown.

“So that was not known at the time of the trial.”

Barrister Philip McCarthy KC, for the Crown, said 87 samples from the case had been reviewed as a result of the Commission of Inquiry.

He said the crown would argue on appeal that the new results would not have impacted the jury’s verdict and that new findings supported the prosecution case.

“There were some reportings in which the original statement and the evidence given was that no DNA was detected or insufficient DNA or that the complexity of the DNA sample meant that it was unable to be analysed,” he said.

Mr McCarthy said the original trial heard evidence that the claw of the hammer had no DNA that could be analysed but fresh testing revealed it contained the DNA of the victim Ms Cobby.

“In relation to the handle of the hammer, the evidence at the trial was that there was no DNA detected so it’s neutral evidence if I can use that term,” Mr McCarthy said.

“The evidence now is that the deposition of DNA is too complex to analyse in terms of the contributors.

“That’s an indication of a change in the evidence but again the crown would rely upon circumstantial evidence to prove how it had been used upon Ms Cobby.”

Andrew Cobby laying on the ground after being found by police on the night of the murder.

Mr McCarthy said Cobby had a right to explore how the changes to the evidence may have impacted his trial.

“The crown’s argument would be well the evidence is the same,” he said.

“It doesn’t indicate Mr Cobby held it, or didn’t hold it, it doesn’t indicate that an unknown person held it, Mr Cobby’s representation in his interview was that he and his wife were attacked by an unknown person, it doesn’t indicate whether an unknown person did or did not hold it.”

“He would need to show the new evidence would matter or could have changed the result.

“The hammer is an example now where the crown previously suggested to the jury it had been used on Ms Cobby with circumstantial evidence that proved that, we now also have DNA on the claw of the hammer being Ms Cobby’s DNA.”

The case has been set down for further legal argument on September 14 with an appeal hearing likely to take place in late October.