Shandee Blackburn’s mother says justice in jeopardy without law reform

New double jeopardy laws will be meaningless for victims if they can’t use evidence unearthed in a review of cases affected by failures in Qld’s DNA lab, Shandee Blackburn’s mum warns.

Shandee Blackburn’s mother Vicki and sister Shannah visit her grave in Mackay. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Murder victim Shandee Blackburn’s mother says new Queensland double jeopardy laws will be meaningless for victims if they can’t use evidence unearthed in a review of thousands of criminal cases affected by failures in the state’s DNA lab.

The Palaszczuk government is preparing to introduce legislation to widen double jeopardy laws to include crimes including rape.

Currently, only people acquitted of murder can be retried, and then only if there is fresh and compelling evidence.

Blackburn’s mother, Vicki Blackburn, wrote to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath this month seeking an update on the laws, announced last year.

“Critical to any victim that’s being affected by the failures in the lab is the ability to be able to apply for double jeopardy on the basis that the laboratory has failed those victims, and failed quite spectacularly,” Ms Blackburn said.

She is concerned that even if new evidence is found during retesting of samples from Shandee’s unsolved murder in Mackay in 2013, or in other serious crimes, it won’t be considered “fresh” because it was always available.

“I understand there are changes in the expansion of more crimes being applicable to apply for double jeopardy, which is fantastic news,” Ms Blackburn said.

“However, if we can’t get it past the ‘fresh’ criteria, it doesn’t make any difference to any victim, in ­reality; it’s of no significant value whatsoever.

“Every single case will have to be fresh and compelling. The argument is that the DNA was always there, it’s not fresh. It’s very, very concerning.”

Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath says the government is considering the complex issue of how the test of “fresh and compelling” evidence will apply to cases affected by the DNA lab. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Ms D’Ath on Sunday said the government was progressing double jeopardy reforms to broaden the scope of offences that were captured.

“We are also carefully considering the complex issue of how the test of fresh and compelling might apply in cases where faulty DNA evidence was presented at trial, and the defendant was subsequently acquitted,” she said.

Blackburn’s former boyfriend, amateur boxer John Peros, was found not guilty of her murder by a jury in less than two hours.

Queensland Coroner David O’Connell later concluded that Peros did kill Blackburn, and in 2022 again reopened investi­gations following revelations of DNA lab failures in The Australian’s podcast Shandee’s Story.

Peros denies any involvement in the vicious slaying of Blackburn with a knife as she walked home from work.

Ms Blackburn says she is facing the possibility that if samples yield evidence implicating Peros in retesting by the coroner, it may not be regarded as fresh.

“That is quite disappointing after everything we’ve done and everything we’ve been through over 10 years,” she said.

“What does a mother have to do in Queensland to get justice for her daughter’s murder?”

Shandee Blackburn with former boyfriend John Peros.

Former Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts last year said the government was giving victims “false hope” with the promised double jeopardy expansion. DNA evidence shelved during the state’s forensic lab disaster could not be considered “fresh”, Mr Potts said at the time.

However, retired Queensland Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff KC, who led last year’s DNA lab inquiry, has said he believed that people ­acquitted because of DNA bungling could in fact be retried.

Prosecutors could argue that evidence was not reasonably obtainable at the time of the trial because of the lab’s errors, and it would be up to the Court of ­Appeal to decide, Mr Sofronoff said last year.

Ms Blackburn has travelled from Mackay to Brisbane to ­attend the start of public hearings of a new commission of inquiry into the lab on Monday.

The inquiry will examine the so-called “Project 13” DNA extraction method that has been blamed for the failure to identify Blackburn’s killer.

“We thought we had put it all behind us and that we could move on,” Ms Blackburn said.

“However, I think that is the core of what we were looking for with that first inquiry.

“This is where everything starts from, this Project 13.

“To not have this inquiry, it means the laboratory would not be starting fresh. It would still have questions to answer.

“I think this is vital for Queenslanders to have faith in the laboratory moving forward as well.”

The state opposition on Sunday said the DNA lab disaster was “one of the greatest failings in the justice system in our history”, and that it would consider any proposed changes that were recommended by the new inquiry.