WEBVTT - The Story So Far 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:06.080 Just before nine o'clock last night, the jury returned guilty 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.480 verdicts against all three defendants. 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.119 It was absolute shambles, to tell you the truth, just 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:12.560 absolutely really conant. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.920 Blood on his clothing the day after the alleged. 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.520 Attapshell a mud bank and it fits Roy River. Basically, 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:19.239 I think most of the people are used to me. 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:20.600 Where are good people? 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.280 I think a really important question we need to ask 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.360 is how many Indigenous prisoners in Australia are innocent. 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.880 This is Curtain, a podcast where we pull back the 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.440 blinds to shine a light on the darkest parts of 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.240 our justice system and ask who are the victims. I'm 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.879 Amy Maguire and I'm. 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:43.040 Martin Hodgson, a senior advocate for the Foreign Prisoner Support Service. 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.160 And a warning, this series contains the names of deceased 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:51.680 peoples and has distressing content that might upset some listeners. 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:54.480 Welcome to Curtain the podcast. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:59.000 Today, we've had major developments in the media's coverage of 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:03.960 Kevin Henry's case. We'll discuss this later in the program, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.440 but first we're up to episode eighteen in this podcast series. 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.000 And if you've just caught up with us, but you 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.360 don't want to go back and listen to all of 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.520 the episodes. This episode is going to be a handy recap, 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.000 but if you're a regular listener, it's always good to 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.959 go back and rehash the case. There might be something 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:28.360 you've forgotten or something that slipped past you. We'll also 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:33.280 discussed a few major developments following our brief recap. Min 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.480 We've talked a lot about this case, but a big 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.280 part of understanding it means going back in time to 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:43.520 around nineteen ninety one. What was life like for Aboriginal 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.800 people back in nine ninety one, particularly in Queensland. 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.120 Well, it was a very rough time. One of the 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.520 things that had recently wrapped up in nineteen eighty nine 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:59.640 was the Fitzgerald Inquiry, which examined corruption right across Queensland, 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:04.640 both in the sphere of politics and in particular policing. 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:09.600 Now so bad was the police service that the Police 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:14.000 Commissioner at the time was charged with corruption and ended 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:18.560 up in prison himself. And there was also major issues 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:23.400 to do with policing right around Queensland, and the police 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:28.120 culture of the state was heavily criticized. It was alleged 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:33.000 and also found that police officers largely had loyalty to 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.840 each other and no one else, that they weren't enforcing 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.080 the law against other police officers, that there was a 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:45.920 great deal of misconduct, inefficiency, and contempt for the justice system. 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:52.560 So it was this background of police corruption, shocking treatment 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:57.320 of Aboriginal people right across the state, of crackdowns on 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.360 any dissent and protest, and that a lot of people 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:06.600 who didn't have access to really good legal assistance were 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.600 slipping through the cracks on a weekly basis. And I 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.160 think it's very important that people understand that as it 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:18.880 relates to Kevin Henry, because it's fair to say these 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:23.880 recommendations were nowhere near in place those that would see 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:28.639 a change to corrupt police culture in Rockhampton in nineteen 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.120 ninety one when the tragic events took place. 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.160 And Linda, when we talk about her as a victim, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.360 she actually had a family history involving another really important 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:41.560 event around that time, and that was the Royal Commission 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.200 into Aboriginal Deaths and Custody, which would have just concluded. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:46.680 In the year of her death. 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.320 Does that come into play when we talk about Kevin 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:50.120 Henry's case. 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:55.200 Yeah, I think it's particularly important and doubly tragic for 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.080 Linda's family. This was a brilliant Aboriginal woman and mother 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:04.480 who'd lost one of their own family members in custody 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:09.400 at the hands of police and correctional services. And this 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.320 was such an issue the way people were treated by 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.960 police and corrective services in custody, that it prompted this 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:22.840 nationwide royal commission that's had wide reaching findings that sadly 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.640 is still not implemented to this day. And many of 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.520 the issues raised in that Royal commission relate to the 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:35.279 way people were treated by the police upon their arrest, 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.760 and sadly, Kevin would fall victim to exactly the issues 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.599 that were raised at that Royal commission. 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:49.200 So in recapping what was the crime, well, basically what 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:54.520 was established at the time was that Linda had been 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.000 in Rockhampton for a short period of time. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:02.080 She'd gone missing for a period around eight days and 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:07.120 was last seen wearing black pants, a black top, a 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:12.159 red coat, and a white and black scarf. And on Saturday, 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:17.159 the thirty first of August nineteen ninety one, Linda was 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:22.240 brutally assaulted by three women. And what we believe is 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.720 that that assault took place in two locations, but the 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.920 primary one established by the court at the time, and 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.720 all the evidence is that that assault took place at 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.520 a place called Tanuba House on the banks of the 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:42.279 Fitzroy River, and that it left Linda with life threatening 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:47.560 injuries enough to have the women charged and convicted with 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:53.520 grievous bodily harm. In addition, Kevin Henry was charged with 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.719 the rape and murder of Linda, and he was accused 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:02.440 of placing Linda's body in the river the following day, 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.440 on the Sunday, Linda's body was found by a fisherman 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.080 early in the morning, and that's the basics of the 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:15.920 crime and what took place. Who were the witnesses, So, 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.200 as we've explained throughout the podcast, there were a large 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.760 number of people who used to attend t n Uber House, 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.760 who would sleep there, who would gather there. It was 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.760 essentially their second home. For some it was their home 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.600 on the river bank, and so we had many Aboriginal 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:42.080 people who were witnesses to the assault. We don't have 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:47.919 any witnesses to Kevin Henry ever placing Linda's body in 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.400 the river, but there was a large number of witnesses 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.880 who saw what went on during that day and It's 0:06:54.960 --> 0:07:00.000 important to remember that they were all watching a football game, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.760 and there had been heavy alcohol consumption on that day, 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:09.880 and so basically all our witnesses to the event itself 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:11.560 were heavily intoxicated. 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.360 Was Kevin Henry a witness to the assault. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:21.520 Kevin Henry did witness the beginning of the assault. But 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:26.400 there's two issues that are supported by the evidence and 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.760 by statements of both Kevin and witnesses, which are that 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:36.120 Kevin was heavily intoxicated, and he actually went to sleep. 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:41.280 And it appears he went to sleep either during the 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:45.800 assault or very shortly after. It was quite prolonged and 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.560 as we said, took place in a number of locations, 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.240 so he saw a little bit, but he really didn't 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:57.120 see a lot. And because he was heavily intoxicated, he 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.320 did spend most of the day and certainly most of 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.560 that night asleep. 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.440 So who were the women who committed the assault and 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.360 why do we think they might have had motive to 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:11.640 commit that assault? 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:17.880 So the three women were convicted of grievous bodily harm 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:23.640 against Linda. Their names are Susan Aubrey, Margaret Bob and 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:28.840 Amy Saunders. Now it's believed these women took issue with 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:34.439 Linda and they accused her of stealing their men. They 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:40.760 used language that is highly inappropriate, highly sexualized, that I 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:45.240 won't repeat. And there was an event that day that 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.440 if you want to know more about, you can listen 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:53.160 to the podcast that led to these women beginning to 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:58.080 verbally abuse Linda and then violently attacking her. Now, it's 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:03.120 important to remember these women were feared by many people. 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:08.640 They were known to commit many assaults. Many of the 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:13.000 witnesses who gave statement spoke of their fear of these women. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:17.720 The assault these women committed was horrific. It left Linda 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:25.320 with life threatening injuries. It left Linda bleeding profusely. And 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.240 there's the very real possibility that the forensic expert at 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.280 the initial trial couldn't rule in or out, which is 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.160 that Linda died of the injuries suffered at the hands 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:41.040 of these women. And still to this day, there are 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.559 people who speak of their fear of the women who 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:46.040 committed this violent assault. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.400 So what where does Kevin Henry come into it? What 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.320 do police allege he did after the assault? 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.439 So what the police would allege is that when everybody 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.920 left to nuber House where this assault took place and 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:08.120 went to a place nearby called the Crown Hotel. Is 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:13.360 that Kevin dragged Linda's body away, had sex with Linda, 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.760 and then placed her body in the water. Now it's 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:23.640 important to point out that nobody witnessed this, Kevin Henry's 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.160 denied this for twenty five years, and that there was 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:31.840 no physical or forensic evidence that linked Kevin Henry to 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.400 those alleged events. But for now in the podcast, this 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.560 is what the police would allege when they charged Kevin 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:41.840 Henry with murder. 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:48.160 So when did the police investigation begin? And I guess 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.800 how did the police again in conducting that investigation. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.680 So the following day, when Linda's body was found early 0:10:55.760 --> 0:11:00.240 on the Sunday morning, the police slowly, and it needs 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.680 to be emphasized very slowly, made their way to Tanuba House. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.320 There was a long delay in roping off the area 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.040 and securing the crime scene. There was a long delay 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:18.640 in arresting people, or at least questioning those around and 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.880 those who saw or may have seen what went on. 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.880 In fact, despite Kevin Henry having been there that night, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.200 he was not spoken to that day. It wasn't until 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.800 the Monday when Kevin Henry was walking in Rockhampton that 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.120 he was picked up. And so we have over a 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.920 period of a number of days, most of the people 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:48.320 who were there but certainly not all spoken to by police, 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:53.080 and the police going about collecting the forensic evidence, although 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.240 this was problematic to given that the crime scene had 0:11:57.280 --> 0:11:58.880 not been properly secured. 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.520 When were the women charged? 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.559 So the women were charged on the fifth of September, 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.160 that was the Thursday after the crime, and they were 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:15.640 charged around about twelve pm. Now it's important to understand 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.400 the women at that time were charged with the murder 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:23.120 of Linda. It wasn't until later in the day that 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:28.160 Kevin Henry was interrogated for a second time and he 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.720 was charged with murder later in the afternoon. Now what's 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:37.559 concerning about this is that he was charged with murdering 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:42.720 Linda in a completely separate fashion to the women who'd 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.440 been charged with Linda's murder. And so at this point 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:52.000 you can understand it's quite confusing and very difficult to 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.520 understand how this is good police practice to charge two 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.840 separate lots of people with the murder of the same person, 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.880 but that that murder somehow took place in two different 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.559 sets of circumstances, and in two different ways. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:12.640 Imagine that Kevin was picked up by police. What happened 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:14.240 when he was picked up. 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:21.120 We won't ever know exactly what happened, because the judge 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.320 at the trial was very critical of what happened when 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.000 Kevin was picked up, the way he was interrogated and 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:33.480 spoken to, and the way the police conducted themselves. But 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.920 the very bare bones, and again people can go back 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:41.679 to hear more, is that the police interrogated Kevin Henry, 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.960 he asked for a lawyer. The tape recording which was 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.400 taping his interview was turned off. A few minutes later, 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.280 it came back on and suddenly it seems as if, 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.239 but it's not clear that he's agreed to proceed without 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:04.160 a lawyer. The interview goes on for a little while longer, 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.000 about twenty minutes to half an hour, and then Kevin 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:11.440 Henry advises the police he has nothing more to say, 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:15.920 and at no point in what was recorded up until then, 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.960 had Kevin Henry ever admitted to rape or ever admitted 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:24.680 to murder. And it's at this point that the rest 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:30.160 of the interrogation of Kevin Henry was ruled unlawful by 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:33.560 the judge. So all we do know is that the 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.280 police continued to speak to Kevin for the rest of 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.040 that day. They put him in the car and they 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.640 drove him around. We know they drove him to the 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.440 crime scene, but they may have also driven him elsewhere. 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.560 But the point remains that the judge ruled this was 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:57.960 inadmissible because all of this was done unlawfully. Kevin had 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.800 asked for a lawyer and had said he had nothing 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.600 more to add and nothing more to say, but that 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.400 didn't stop the police from trying to continue for hours. 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:10.480 More. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.440 Was this why they charged Kevin with rape and murder? 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:16.200 Was it based on this confession? 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.239 Yes, so it is believed that based on this confession, 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:25.320 because they discovered no other evidence linking Kevin to the crime, 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.520 that this is why the police charged Kevin with murder. 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:33.200 But again, Kevin was charged on the same day as 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:38.120 the women with the murder of Linda, but said to 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.200 have done so in a completely different way to the women. 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.080 So when did the women's charges get downgraded to grow 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:47.160 this bowly harm? 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:53.120 So from that September, just a few days after Linda 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:57.000 had been killed, all the way until February the next year, 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:01.680 nineteen ninety two. It wasn't till the day that the 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:05.360 three women turned up at court to face charges of murder. 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.080 And it wasn't until all their lawyers were in place, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:13.680 the judge and prosecutor were in place, that the charge 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:17.680 of murder was dropped against the women and those charges 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:22.440 were downgraded to grievous bodily harm. So for five months, 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.240 Kevin Henry and the three women were all charged with murder, 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.920 and yet the police were somehow alleging this had taken 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:32.920 place in two separate ways. 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:35.160 So how did the trial begin? 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.320 So there was two starts to the trial. Kevin Henry 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.000 and two of the women would go on trial in 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:47.040 the April, two months after the charges of murder against 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:51.280 the women had been dropped. The third woman pleaded guilty 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:56.240 to grieve us bodily harm and was sentenced. Then the 0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:02.040 trial opened officially and immediately the confession, and I do 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:07.240 say that in inverted commas, a confession was immediately contested 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:11.240 by Kevin's lawyer, and this was when the judge chose 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:15.359 to rule such a huge amount of the confession out. 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:19.240 And this was a vital piece of evidence against Kevin 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:23.639 Henry because there was no other evidence, And so the 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.879 trial begins with the judge ruling the vast bulk of 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:32.919 Kevin Henry's statement inadmissible because he'd been denied a lawyer, 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:38.080 he'd been denied his right to end the interview, and 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.719 the police had conducted the interview in an unlawful manner. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.840 So what were the main points that came out of 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:45.320 the trial. 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.600 So largely we had a number of forensic experts that 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:57.480 were called, the two arresting police officers, and the witnesses 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:03.600 who either saw the crime att tenuber House or a 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.359 number of people who had seen goings on earlier that day, 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.840 and the fishermen who'd found the body. Now the basics 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:16.240 of the crime are this that in terms of the witnesses, 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:21.679 they'd all given multiple statements and none of those statements 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.760 were consistent with their other statements. This is for a 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:30.240 number of reasons. The three women who had been previously 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:35.520 charged with murder changed their statements once they'd been charged 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:39.679 with murder, and one of whom had tried to implicate 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:44.720 Kevin Henry, but her statement was inconsistent. A number of 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:49.119 the other witnesses simply didn't see anything that would link 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.879 Kevin Henry to the crime in any way, and so 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.360 the police, by their own admission, had tried to interview 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:02.080 these witnesses on multiple occasions, had one witness who said 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.520 the police followed him for months, and some of the 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.760 witnesses didn't give their final version of events, their final 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.439 statement until just days before the trial commenced. And again, 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:19.320 all these statements contradicted each other. And the last thing 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:23.200 that's important to know about the witnesses is virtually all 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:27.119 of them were heavily intoxicated, both when the crime was 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:32.040 committed and when they were interrogated by police, and all 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.280 the witnesses basically admit to this. Some of them are 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.760 very open about that, and others it takes a little 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.240 bit of questioning. But again, the police should not have 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.760 interviewed these people when they were intoxicated, and yet they did. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:52.080 The forensic evidence that was presented at trial was basically 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:57.320 to do with Linda's injuries, the forensic material that was 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.840 collected that matched Linda and matched some of the women, 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:08.000 and whether any of that forensic material connected Kevin Henry. 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:13.280 And none of that forensic material connected Kevin Henry in 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:19.800 any way. So not the blood, not the clothes, not hair, nothing, 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:24.920 of a forensic nature linked Kevin. And finally we had 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.200 the testimony of the two police officers who had investigated 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:34.680 the crime, and, by one of them's own admission, from 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:40.240 the moment they charged Kevin Henry, they stopped investigating the crime. 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.040 They did not look at who else could be involved, 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:48.840 they didn't look for any further evidence. They simply believed 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.920 they had their man. And so other names and other 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.919 possibilities of what happened that night were raised, But the 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.880 police couldn't answer any of this because they'd simply stopped 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:07.920 investigating the very day they charged Kevin Henry. Now, as 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.880 much as it might sound like, it's difficult to believe 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:16.800 that was the totality. In summary of the evidence presented 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:21.159 against Kevin Henry, there was not a single witness called 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:26.240 who saw Kevin Henry with Linda's body, either when Linda 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:31.639 was alive or dead, neither having sex with Linda or 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:37.120 placing her in the river. When the jury retired, they 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:41.920 came back and returned guilty verdicts against the women, where 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:46.240 there were many many witnesses to what they'd done, and 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:49.840 a great deal of forensic evidence linking them to what 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:54.720 they'd done, and also finding Kevin Henry guilty of the 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:59.480 rape and murder of Linda, despite there being no witnesses 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.840 that saw him involved in the crime in any way, 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:08.639 no forensic evidence of Kevin ever having sex with Linda, 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:13.720 let alone committing rape, and no evidence of murder. And 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.760 so for twenty five years Kevin Henry has been in 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:22.080 prison in Queensland based on the verdict of that jury 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:27.120 and based on the sentence handed down by the judge 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:27.960 on that day. 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.800 In that time, did he ever appeal his sentence. 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:37.000 Kevin did have a very brief appeal. It was done 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:41.680 in a way that only challenged the Privacy Act which 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:45.439 sought to it sought to throw out the entirety of 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:49.040 the statement given by Kevin to police. But what it 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:54.040 didn't do. It never challenged the fact that no forensic 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:58.600 evidence was ever presented that implicated Kevin, and it didn't 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:02.720 challenge the fact that no witnesses ever saw Kevin Henry 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:08.040 involved in the crime itself. And so for twenty five years, 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:11.920 and this is important to stress, Kevin Henry has always 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:16.919 maintained his innocence. He pleaded not guilty at the trial. 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:22.600 He denied anything that he was accused of. He pleaded 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:27.800 not guilty at trial. He maintained that innocence leading up 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:31.000 to the trial, all the way up to his appeals, 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:35.400 and for twenty five years, Kevin Henry has told everyone 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.760 who will listen, he did not commit that crime. 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.080 So what is the investigations uncovered today? 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:47.760 So, after all this has taken place twenty five years later, 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:51.199 those who are following the podcast will know that a 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:55.920 year ago Amy and I launched our own investigation and 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:58.960 I didn't need more than five minutes looking at this 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:02.560 case to know that something was wrong. The first issue 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:06.000 we looked at was whether it was possible Linda's body 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:09.520 had been placed in a different location to where police 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:13.760 would claim, and a location that was simply impossible for 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:19.560 Kevin Henry to access. And all our investigation, including consulting 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:24.040 with forensic experts, has led us to believe that Linda's 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:28.119 body was placed on the racecourse side of the Fitzroy 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:31.960 River that is on the opposite side of the river 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.560 to Tenuba House, the crime scene, and would have required 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:40.200 a car to drive the body around to that spot. 0:24:41.440 --> 0:24:43.760 The way we were able to work that out is 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:48.199 to do with where Linda's body was found when it 0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:52.480 was found and the movement of the tides, a parallel 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:56.960 line that her body had left in the mud, and 0:24:57.080 --> 0:25:01.480 also the variations in the two river banks, one being 0:25:01.680 --> 0:25:05.760 accessible by foot without getting wet or muddy, and the 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:09.280 Tanuba house side where it was alleged Kevin placed Linda 0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:13.119 in the river, requiring at the time someone waded out 0:25:13.160 --> 0:25:16.119 into the mud and water to place a body in 0:25:16.160 --> 0:25:22.359 the river. And Kevin Henry's clothing, his shoes, and his 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:27.679 body was entirely clean of any river water, any mud, 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:32.080 any salt, any trace of having ever gone near the river. 0:25:32.920 --> 0:25:36.840 So that was the first issue. We've also been able 0:25:36.840 --> 0:25:42.240 to clarify the forensic evidence. Now, at the initial trial, 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:46.760 no evidence was ever tendered that would link Kevin Henry 0:25:47.640 --> 0:25:51.639 to the crime itself, but we were able to go further. 0:25:52.320 --> 0:25:56.800 We were able to show that had Kevin Henry been involved, 0:25:57.200 --> 0:26:01.320 there would have been forensic evidence, and so it's not 0:26:01.359 --> 0:26:06.520 a matter of evidence simply being lost at the time 0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:11.080 or things like that. The forensic conclusion of the new 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:14.720 report we commissioned is that so there was no forensic 0:26:14.760 --> 0:26:19.639 evidence linking Kevin to Linda's body or the crime scene 0:26:20.040 --> 0:26:23.720 post the assault committed by the women that is the 0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:27.919 forensic report found had Kevin been involved, he would have 0:26:27.920 --> 0:26:31.919 had Linda's blood on his clothes, There wasn't any he 0:26:31.960 --> 0:26:35.520 would have had Linda's blood on his skin and hands, 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:39.959 There wasn't any that he would have had mud and 0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:43.240 remnants of the river water on his body, and there 0:26:43.359 --> 0:26:48.119 wasn't any. So not only did we show that the 0:26:48.119 --> 0:26:54.440 initial forensics while failing to implicate Kevin Henry in the crime, 0:26:55.000 --> 0:26:58.959 the new forensics show he couldn't have been involved in 0:26:59.000 --> 0:27:01.400 the crime. And this was very important. 0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:04.639 So if Kevin Henry didn't do it, who are the 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:05.600 other suspects? 0:27:06.960 --> 0:27:11.840 So, as listeners to our podcast will remember, in the 0:27:11.920 --> 0:27:16.359 last few episodes, we finally received a statement by someone 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:20.560 we call Witness X. They were an eye witness to 0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:25.120 basically everything that went on that day and that night. 0:27:27.000 --> 0:27:31.760 Witness X is very clear in what they saw. Witness 0:27:31.960 --> 0:27:37.119 x's statement matches the forensics, it matches the other witnesses 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:41.840 statements that are believed and thought to be consistent, and 0:27:41.880 --> 0:27:46.520 it matches with our thorough investigation. And that is firstly, 0:27:46.880 --> 0:27:50.000 that Kevin Henry was asleep under a gum tree and 0:27:50.040 --> 0:27:52.639 that he did not have anything to do with the crime, 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:58.879 and secondly that those involved in the crime did have 0:27:58.960 --> 0:28:03.200 a car, did drive Linda's body to the other side 0:28:03.240 --> 0:28:06.600 of the river, and did place Linda's body on the 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:10.440 racecourse side of the river into the water, as we'd 0:28:10.520 --> 0:28:16.000 initially predicted with our own forensic examination, and we'd never 0:28:16.080 --> 0:28:19.840 seen this witness statement until just a few weeks ago, 0:28:20.080 --> 0:28:23.639