Former Neill-Fraser lawyer Barbara Etter lashes complaints as ‘false’ and ‘unfounded’

Tasmania’s former corruption watchdog boss has defended claims she made on 60 Minutes about evidence in the Sue Neill-Fraser murder trial.

FORMER corruption watchdog boss and Sue Neill-Fraser lawyer Barbara Etter has taken to the witness stand in a bid to clear her name over three complaints that have besieged her for years.

Giving evidence before Supreme Court acting judge Brian Martin on Thursday, Ms Etter lashed out at what she called a “false” and “unfounded” complaint made against her by Director of Public Prosecutions, Daryl Coates SC.

Barbara Etter leaves the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Hobart. Picture: Chris Kidd.

Mr Coates had criticised comments Ms Etter made on 60 Minutes about luminol – a substance that glows in the presence of blood – in a dinghy related to the Neill-Fraser case.

Ms Etter said then-DPP Tim Ellis SC had incorrectly conveyed to the jury that the dinghy contained blood, presumably belonging to Neill-Fraser’s partner Bob Chappell.

“There was no confirmed blood in the dinghy,” she said under cross-examination from Chris Gunson, SC, acting for the Legal Profession Board of Tasmania.

Ms Etter also defended her decision to lodge a counter-complaint against Mr Coates, in which she alleged he failed “to act in a professional, competent and diligent manner”, with his conduct “adversely impacting on (her) health, professional opportunities and livelihood”.

Ms Etter also defended making a complaint against a Legal Profession Board investigator, claiming she made “comprehensive rebuttals” to allegations made about her, which she said were never read or considered.

“There was a wealth of material to support what I had said on 60 Minutes and here we were three years later and I was still being pursued,” she said.

Ms Etter, who was the inaugural chief executive of the Tasmanian Integrity Commission, also defended allegations of professional misconduct, or unprofessional conduct, related to the 2016 inquest into the death of Rita Sally Greer, who was found in her shower with 17 stab wounds.

November 15, 2021:

COMMENTS made by former corruption watchdog boss Barbara Etter regarding the Sue Neill-Fraser murder trial have come under the microscope in a court battle that could potentially clear her name – or see her struck off as a lawyer.

Ms Etter is fighting three complaints made against her, including one by Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates SC about comments she made on 60 Minutes about luminol evidence in the Neill-Fraser trial.

Barbara Etter leaves the Supreme Court of Tasmania, Hobart. Picture: Chris Kidd.

A second complaint has been made against Ms Etter by Robert Greer, whose mother Rita died at Pelverata in 2007 and whose death was the subject of a reopened coronial inquest in 2016.

Mrs Greer, who was found with 17 stab wounds and a knife still embedded in her neck, was deemed to have died by suicide.

Ms Etter has been accused of professional misconduct, or unprofessional conduct, by bringing allegations that Mrs Greer may have been murdered by her husband or son.

She has also been accused of bringing vexatious complaints by making complaints against four lawyers with “no proper basis”.

The complaints are being heard in open court, before interstate acting judge Brian Martin, rather than by the Legal Profession Board of Tasmania, following an application by Ms Etter’s lawyer Hugh Selby.

Chris Gunson SC at the Supreme Court of Tasmania. Picture: Chris Kidd.

Chris Gunson SC, acting for the board, said it was not alleged that Ms Etter had acted dishonestly, but rather “demonstrated a high degree of incompetence” that was incompatible with ongoing legal practice.

He said striking Ms Etter off was open to the court, or imposing some other kind of sanction.

Mr Gunson said it was alleged that during a 60 Minutes interview, Ms Etter misattributed comments by Tim Ellis SC to a jury when he opened the Crown case prosecuting Neill-Fraser.

The comments concerned luminol – a substance that glows in the presence of blood – and whether or not blood had been present in a dinghy after Neill-Fraser’s partner Bob Chappell went missing.

Acting Judge Martin noted that Mr Ellis had indeed made a comment “construed that way by the defence” and did not later add “there was no evidence of blood in the dinghy”.

Mr Gunson also said Ms Etter had improperly claimed in a coronial inquest into Mr Chappell’s death that Tasmania Police had tampered with listening device recordings.

Mr Gunson said the board did not criticise Ms Etter for pursuing her clients’ interests or questioning the outcomes of the justice system, and acknowledged that “miscarriages of justice do occur”.

But he said the board’s position was that incorrect media statements, particularly in high-profile cases such as Neill-Fraser’s, “have the potential to undermine confidence in the administration of justice”.

He said it had been incumbent on Ms Etter to make inquiries about whether her statements “were in fact correct”.

Barbara Etter’s supporters outside court. Picture: Chris Kidd.

Similarly, Mr Gunson said allegations of murder in the Mrs Greer case “should have sent alarm bells ringing immediately” and that Ms Etter should have satisfied herself it was proper to bring the claims.

But Mr Selby, in his opening, said Ms Etter had been given no opportunity to speak in her defence, and that the board hadn’t investigated the allegations properly.

Ms Etter said she had always acted in the best interests of her clients.

The hearing is expected to run until Friday.

Ms Etter, who previously acted for Neill-Fraser, quit the legal profession in 2018 after her legal practising certificate was suspended.

A second appeal by Neill-Fraser was heard in March this year, with a decision yet to be handed down.

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