Retrospective review of thousands of shelved DNA samples yet to begin

A review of thousands of forensic samples that were shelved during Queensland’s DNA disaster is yet to begin.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and DNA inquiry commissioner Walter Sofronoff during a press conference at the handing down of the DNA Inquiry report in Brisbane in December, 2022.

A review of thousands of forensic samples shelved during Queensland’s DNA disaster is yet to begin, putting at risk a key recommendation from a royal commission-style inquiry.

More than 7000 forensic samples taken from major crime scenes, such as rapes and murders, were rejected by the health ­department’s lab between 2018 and 2022 because they fell below a very high DNA testing threshold.

Former judge Walter Sofronoff KC, who oversaw a public ­inquiry into the lab, recommended in ­December that the government retrospectively review cases within 12 months to determine which forensic samples be retested.

About 200 cases currently ­before the courts have been prioritised for review and additional testing done on 50 samples, the Queensland Police Service confirmed. “At this point in time there have been no new offenders identified,” a spokesman said.

But a review of 7000 historic samples ignored by the lab for years is yet to commence. State government sources have told The Australian the retrospective review is due to commence “soon”, but the state’s DNA lab was “totally overwhelmed”.

It comes as a closed-door meeting of forensic and legal ­experts was last week told it could take scientists up to 12 years to clear cases affected by the lab’s bungles.

Queensland Health said the timeline was speculation, but it was not disputed by forensic ­experts at the meeting, including Forensic Science Queensland chief executive Linzi Wilson-Wilde, The Courier-Mail reported. Deputy Chief Magistrate Anthony Gett told a court in May there were “10,000 cases in backlog for DNA testing”, which relate to “business-as-usual cases”, not historic samples being re-examined.

The unusually high DNA testing threshold was introduced by the laboratory in 2018 and meant crucial evidence went ­undetected for years.

The problem was revealed in The Australian’s investigative podcast series Shandee’s Story and prompted police to secretly begin auditing the lab’s results in late 2021. Managers at the lab had repeatedly told police the chance of finding new evidence when testing below the threshold was 1.86 per cent. But the police review found the success rate was as high as 66 per cent in sexual assault cases and 30 per cent in other major crimes.

In one unsolved murder case from late 2021, police asked for 33 “shelved” samples to be ­retested, of which 10 generated a DNA profile. Most shocking of all was a sample taken from the calf of the victim that matched the accused killer.

The results disturbed the manager of the Queensland Police Service’s DNA unit, David ­Neville, who then began to review the lab’s unusual failure rate in ­detecting DNA.

More horrific results began to emerge, including from a 2021 rape case when the lab decided not to test samples despite the presence of sperm in swabs.

“There were six samples in total taken from the victim originally reported as DNA insufficient and then later tested and reported matching the ­offender,” Inspector Neville told the inquiry last year. He told the inquiry there ­“remains 7000 samples for a major crime that haven’t been tested, they’re still waiting or shelved”.

In his final report, Mr Sofronoff found the failures at the lab had “resulted in a significant number of cases in which the laboratory may have missed evidence”. “Those failures have created a real risk of miscarriage of justice in the criminal justice system,” he said.