Nothing to see here: Queensland government laboratory’s bloody bungle
This is the photo that provides damning new evidence that the Queensland government’s DNA testing laboratory is a basket case.
This is the photo that provides damning new evidence that the Queensland government’s DNA testing laboratory is a basket case.
The image was published by a royal-commission style inquiry sparked by The Australian’s investigative podcast series Shandee’s Story.
It shows a broken shard of glass with a red smear that has been labelled “blood” by police.
When a sample of the blood was sent to the lab for testing late last year, it came back with a surprising finding: “Insufficient DNA for further testing.”
Police challenged the results, knowing blood is a rich source of DNA.
Subsequent testing returned a clear DNA profile, solving a case that otherwise would not have been.
Inspector David Neville wrote to senior scientist and lab manager Cathie Allen about the case on December 17 last year.
“Given the nature of the stain and inert substance, we were surprised with the original result which is what prompted the request to further test,” Inspector Neville wrote.
“Today we were advised that subsequent testing yielded a single source 20 loci profile.
“This was an excellent result solving the crime which would have been otherwise missed.“
Inspector Neville had growing suspicions that vital DNA evidence was being missed because of the thresholds the lab had set for testing.
He wrote in the email that the case of the shard of glass was “in addition to the items on the list provided previously”.
He included an image of the bloodstained glass shard in the email.
“The image below is attached to the exhibit screen which was visible to laboratory staff,” he wrote.
“The results of presumptive testing are also included on that screen. I wondered if lab staff use this information when making a decision on stopping testing?”
Prior to the email, forensic scientist Dr Kirsty Wright had warned on Shandee’s Story that failures in the lab could be the biggest forensics disaster in Australian history.
The podcast had revealed no DNA was found in a sample from a pool of blood, and that the lab had not fully tested samples from what police suspected was blood in the car of the main suspect, John Peros.
If you think your case has been affected by the DNA lab problems please contact shandee@theaustralian.com.au
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