Accused: Trial in the Outback TV - lindychamberlain online - The Lindy Tapes: A Dingo's Got My Baby TV - True Crime Recaps 2022 -
The following is a true story that gripped the world. In August 1980, Lindy, Michael and their 3 children were on a camping holiday at Uluru (Ayres Rock) in Australia. Their baby daughter, just two months old, disappeared. Lindy claimed a dingo took and killed the baby. The authorities claimed Lindy murdered her baby. It became the trial in the outback that gripped the world. Accused: Trial in the Outback I, captions, Channel 5 2020
Two weeks into her life sentence, Lindy went into labour. ibid.
Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor Michael Chamberlain and his wife Lindy took their young family for a camping holiday to central Australia. ibid.
All night long their was a frantic search. Aboriginal trackers, park rangers and searchers found dingo tracks. The next day Michael and Lindy gave their statements to the police. ibid.
[Dennis] Barritt was critical of the police and the inadequacy of its investigation. And the failure of the Northern Territory government to act on a warning that dingos posed at Uluru. ibid.
The first inquest found that Michael and Lindy Chamberlain had nothing to do with Azaria’s death but formally introduced the notion of human intervention. ibid.
The trial of Lindy Chamberlain for the murder of her daughter, and Michael Chamberlain as an accessory, was expected to run for six weeks. It was billed as the Trial of the Century. ibid.
The local Darwin jury was subjected to claim and counter-claim of forensic evidence. ibid.
‘A guilty verdict: I felt calm but numb.’ ibid. Lindy
Across the country a grass-roots movement took shape. Led by the Seventh Day Adventist community, the eyewitnesses and ordinary citizens who believed a grave miscarriage of justice had occurred. ibid.
Fuelled by sensational headlines the public rushed to judgment. The first Coronial inquest was held in Alice Springs. Accused: Trial in the Outback II
Lindy was allowed one precious hour with her new daughter Kahlia. ibid.
Over the next five months the Chamberlain defence team presented their case to the federal court. They tried to introduce new evidence from witnesses. ibid.
‘Get over yourself and take a stand. You’ve got to have balls to say this in Darwin – you’re wrong.’ ibid. Lindy
MPs seek release of Lindy on licence. ibid. newspaper article
The Northern Territory government took no action. ibid.
Channel 9 phone poll: Do you think Lindy Chamberlain should be released on compassionate grounds? Yes: 39.3%; No: 60.7%. ibid.
Searchers made a startling discovery … ‘The discovery of a baby’ matinee jacket has given new impetus today to calls for a federal government inquiry into the Azaria Chamberlain case’ … This new evidence forced the Northern Territory government to act. ibid. news
Lindy and Michael had their convictions quashed. ibid.
Still, even though the first Coroner had said he believed a dingo responsible, and the Royal Commission and NT Supreme Court echoed that, the NT government would not agree with them. Even the Crown prosecutor, in the trial, had said it was a case of ‘simple alternatives’; either a dingo killed Azaria, or Lindy did. But, in 1995, confirming that none of the Chamberlains were in any way responsible for Azaria’s death, the coroner at that time ruled that the cause of her death could not be determined. It seems hard to fathom, as all of the key witnesses were still alive, the testing still available, and the Royal Commission did enormous research, finally saying that it had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt that a dingo had not taken Azaria. One newspaper headline said it best – ‘OUTRAGE’
In December 2011 the NT Coroner’s office announced that there was to be another inquest, and on 12 June 2012 Coroner Elizabeth Morris delivered her finding that Azaria had indeed been taken by a dingo. Even though Lindy’s conviction had been quashed in 1988, it was not until 2012 that the public felt that Lindy had been fully exonerated at last. lindychamberlain online article
‘I had the feeling that I had let down the Chamberlains. I have been made over the years to realise what a terrible terrible injustice Mr Chamberlain has received.’ The Lindy Tapes: A Dingo’s Got My Baby, scientist, 7 News Spotlight 2020
‘The young woman pregnant in the back of a police car in utter disbelief.’ ibid. TV news
The Chamberlains were quiet, unassuming, a pastor and his wife, two young boys and a nine-week-old baby, Azaria. ibid.
There were people who tried to warn us but nobody listened. ibid.
A dingo had come into a tent at a campground right under the noses of the parents. It snatched a baby, or did it? ibid.
There it is – ‘A dingo’s got my baby’ – the anguish of a mother. ibid.
Murray [witness] had seen a hungry dingo that very night. ibid.
‘They’re [rozzers] really just trying to nail Lindy Chamberlain.’ ibid. Murray
Azaria’s body was never found but her clothing was. ibid.
‘He [British scientist] let his expertise run ahead of his competence.’ ibid. expert re first analysis of clothing
The Chamberlains became public enemy number one. ibid.
How did the jury get it so wrong? ibid.
There was crucial evidence the jury never heard. ibid.
It wasn’t blood, it was paint overspill when the car was built. ibid.
Incredibly, the federal court and the high court would dismiss the Chamberlain’s appeal. ibid.
Finally the truth: a terrible miscarriage of justice. ibid.
It sounds like something out of a horror movie. A wild dog sneaks into a tent, snatches a nine-week-old baby, and disappears into the inky desert night. True Crime Recaps: A Dingo Took My Baby! Azaria Chamberlain, Youtube 11.51, 2022
A dingo had approached a few campers moments before the incident in question. ibid.
A case that fiercely divided Australia. ibid.
Northern Territory’s police seemed to have it our for Lindy. ibid.
The first inquest supported Lindy’s version of events. ibid.
Lindy Chamberlain’s trial was one of the most publicized in Australia’s history. ibid.