Shandee’s Story: Victim’s mum lashes lab review

The mother of murder victim Shandee Blackburn and a top forensic scientist have raised concerns about the Palaszczuk government’s ‘flawed’ review of the state’s forensic lab.

Forensic scientist Kirsty Wright. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The mother of murder victim Shandee Blackburn and a top ­forensic scientist looking into her case have raised ­concerns about the Palaszczuk government’s “flawed” review of the state’s forensic laboratory.

Terms of reference for the review of the Queensland Forensic Scientific Service were announced on Tuesday by Health Minister Yvette D’Ath, who said her department was still searching for an appropriate reviewer with the necessary skill set to appoint.

It will examine evidence of disturbing failures in Queensland’s government-run laboratory to ­detect DNA in rape and sexual ­assault cases. But the internal ­review will not evaluate the success rates of the laboratory in extracting DNA from samples.

The apparent shortcomings of the laboratory were revealed in The Australian’s Shandee’s Story podcast, which investigated the 23-year-old Ms Blackburn’s unsolved stabbing murder in ­Mackay in 2013.

“Terms of reference have been prepared in consultation with the Queensland Police Service and the CCC,” Ms D’Ath said.

“The highly specialised set of skills required for this review means there is a limited national pool of potential reviewers.

“We are going through the ­process of appointing a reviewer, including undertaking normal due diligence.”

However, top forensic biologist Kirsty Wright criticised the terms of the review and said it needed to be extended into a full commission of inquiry.

“This technical review only ­really goes a very small way,” Dr Wright said. “It’s not evaluating how the lab is performing, it’s just looking at what processes and procedures are in place, which is a tick-box ­exercise.

“Further, the language that’s used in those terms of reference is quite subjective.”

Dr Wright said the proposed review would only evaluate the methods and processes used within the Queensland Health lab without looking at the outputs or the success rate of the laboratory in providing answers to police.

She said evidence showed the lab had a poor track record of ­obtaining DNA from obvious ­biological stains, including a victim’s own blood.

“That was one of the key issues that we picked up on in Shandee’s case,” Dr Wright said.

“While it looks like on the surface they’ve got these wonderful methods and processes, they’re not getting DNA from pools of blood and vehicles.

“So basically, this review is only looking at half the picture.”

Dr Wright said the review should also include a trend rate analysis, which she suspected would show a “nosedive” in profile success rates following the introduction of new methods in 2012.

It should also show the number of times the laboratory provided incorrect results to police, she said.

Dr Wright said the review would not get to the bottom of the issues unless the government called a full commission of inquiry.

Shandee’s mum, Vicki Blackburn, was also unhappy with the terms of reference.

“It was short of being what’s needed,” she said.

Vicki Blackburn. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“What was specifically not in there were the success rates, which is what we’re talking about and the effect of how many cases being reported to QPS.”

State Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the review fell “well short” of what was required.

“The government’s review will not look into one case, not one previous failing,” Mr Crisafulli said. “We’re not just talking about Shandee, we’re talking about ­potentially thousands of victims being denied justice. We are talking about rapists and murderers who have walked free.”

Mr Crisafulli accused Ms D’Ath and the government of trying to brush over the issue.

“The issues with forensic and scientific services are not new,” he said. “Previous reviews have shown this but the government cares more about how things look than actually doing something.”

Coroner David O’Connell wrote to Ms Blackburn in February to inform her he had decided to reopen the coronial investigation into her daughter’s death.