DNA lab bungle used in Andrew John Cobby appeal

A man convicted of murdering his estranged wife in a brutal hammer attack will use the catastrophic failings of Queensland’s DNA laboratory to form part of his case for appeal.

Andrew John Cobby: Picture: Channel Nine

A man convicted of murdering his estranged wife in a brutal hammer attack will use the catastrophic failings of Queensland’s DNA laboratory to form part of his case for appeal.

Andrew John Cobby, convicted over the 2017 killing of his wife, claims new forensic testing on the hammer had provided exculpatory evidence which should see his conviction quashed, The Courier-Mail reports.

Cobby appeared before Court of Appeal president Debra Mullins on Tuesday morning to argue that results of new testing, prompted by the DNA inquiry, showed the hammer contained the DNA of a person “whose identity remains unknown to this day”. “So that’s why I say the fresh evidence is exculpatory because I have the results,” The Courier-Mail reports he told the court.

Doubt has been cast over thousands of criminal cases in Queensland because of flawed practices in the health department’s forensics lab.

Former Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff, who oversaw a public inquiry into the lab, found testing problems would have more likely resulted in cases never making it to trial rather than wrongful convictions.

Cobby’s matter will be reviewed again on March 30.