Qld: DNA proves to be innocent man s path to freedom

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2001
Qld: DNA proves to be innocent man s path to freedom

By Steve Connolly

BRISBANE, April 13 AAP - DNA testing, the modern method of catching criminals, has
proven to be the path to freedom for an innocent man found guilty of child rape.

Frank Button spent almost a year in jail after he was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old
girl at Cherbourg, 200km north-west of Brisbane in 1998.

The 30-year-old this week successfully appealed against the conviction on the strength
of DNA evidence not available at his trial.

The case could have many prisoners around the nation who believe they have been wronged
by the criminal justice system looking to DNA testing to prove their innocence.

Leading criminologist Professor Paul Wilson said DNA had been more renowned for its
crime fighting attributes rather than its ability to clear people of an offence.

"We tend to talk about DNA in Australia in terms of convicting people of crimes, of
solving unsolved crimes, but there is another side to the coin and that is exposing miscarriages
of justice," the Bond University academic said this week.

"There are no doubt people in Australian prisons who are innocent of the crimes they
have been convicted of."

Button was convicted by a jury in Kingaroy last year and sentenced to six years in jail.

The jury convicted him on the strength of evidence from the intellectually impaired
victim and from a confession Button had supposedly made to a nephew, who later claimed
police had fabricated his statement.

Tests of DNA samples prior to the trial were inconclusive and neither the defence nor
prosecution sought additional tests.

But lawyers for Button, who denied the rape charge, later pressed for DNA tests of
stains on bedsheets taken from the scene of the rape.

When matched with sperm samples taken from the rape victim's vagina, they showed Button
was not the person who had intercourse with the girl.

The Court of Appeal's Justice Glen Williams lifted suppression of Button's name so
his innocence would become public.

He described the case as a black day for justice in Queensland.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, said there would be an investigation
into the police and prosecution handling of the Button matter.

There were also calls for extra funding for Brisbane's John Tonge forensic testing
centre to ensure the courts had all appropriate scientific evidence.

Queensland's Criminal Justice Commission wants the case investigated to determine how
an innocent man was jailed, and what is being done to track down the real offender.

Button, who endured attacks in prison for being a child rapist, intends to take legal
action against the Queensland government over his wrongful conviction and 357 days behind
bars.

"The trial went for nine days, yet never once was the DNA evidence - which was in possession
of the police - produced in court," Button told the Courier Mail newspaper.

AAP sc/jhm/mg/brs

KEYWORD: NEWSCOPE QLD

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