Disgraced DNA boss Cathie Allen clinging on to job

The scientist at the centre of Queensland’s DNA laboratory fiasco remains employed by the health department five months after a damning report found she oversaw disturbing practices.

The scientist at the centre of Queensland’s DNA laboratory fiasco remains employed by the health department five months after a damning report found she oversaw disturbing practices that compromised thousands of criminal cases.

A royal commission-style inquiry in December found managing scientist ­Cathie Allen and her deputies, Justin Howes and Paula Brisotto, were behind a testing threshold that meant thousands of crime scene ­samples were ignored for years.

Ms Allen was stood down in September as the inquiry probed catastrophic forensic failings, first exposed in The Australian’s podcast series, Shandee’s Story. 

After the final report was handed down on December 13, the lab managers were given three weeks to respond to show-cause notices.

Sources told The Australian Mr Howes and Ms Brisotto left Queensland Health in recent weeks, but Ms Allen was still employed, suspended without pay.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she had been advised by her department not to “go into the circumstances surrounding their release … but I can confirm they are no longer employees of forensic services”.

“One is still under suspension,” she said.

Dr Paula Brisotto. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Justin Howes. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Inquiry head Walter Sofronoff KC found Ms Allen, Ms Brisotto and Mr Howes were responsible for “the conception and drafting” of a scientific paper to convince police to agree to an unusually high DNA testing threshold in 2018. Designed to improve turnaround times for police, the threshold resulted in key evidence being missed in murder and rape cases.

The lab, now overseen by Linzi Wilson-Wilde, is retrospectively reviewing thousands of sexual assault cases dating back to 2008 “to determine which should be subject to retesting or re-analysis”.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Anthony Gett this week told a court there were already“10,000 cases in backlog for DNA testing”.

Ms D’Ath said the backlog related to “business-as-usual cases”, not historic samples being re-examined after the ­inquiry.

“We do have a backlog in relation to just the normal evidence that comes to the doors of forensic services every week,” she said.

“That is due to a range of reasons, including a shortage of the scientists, but also because we did lose staff through the commission of inquiry, and we have to rebuild our processes. We also had to reset how we test.”

Mr Sofronoff’s report stopped short of recommending criminal charges against Ms Allen, despite finding she lied under oath and that her actions and inaction as lab boss had caused enormous damage to criminal cases and public confidence in the reliability of DNA testing

His report was referred to the state Crime and Corruption Commission in December.

The CCC on Tuesday would not answer questions from The Australian, including whether a formal investigation had begun or whether further action would be taken.

A spokesman said: “The CCC declines to comment.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie said the government should be transparent about the employment status of the three lab managers.

“This issue has rocked the justice system to its absolute core,” he said. “We have thousands of cases that are potentially impacted and delayed by these DNA bungles.”

Updating parliament in March, Ms D’Ath said bone analysis and Y-STR testing was being conducted by the Australian Federal Police and New Zealand’s ESR lab.

Queensland has no Y-STR testing capability even though the method has been available for more than a decade and used in every other Australian lab for at least the past five years.