Marc Renton - another DNA mistake? Qld government must reopen the case

The girl was taken to the local hospital and subjected to a full examination during which internal swabs, nail clippings, pubic hair and blood samples were taken. The swabs and samples were sent to the John Tonge Centre for analysis. Although the sheet and pillowcase from the crime scene were not tested for DNA, the vaginal swabs revealed semen that resulted in a DNA profile of the victim. The swabs were tested for male DNA but no male DNA was obtained

The absence of incriminating scientific evidence caused the police to collect other evidence to fill the gaps. A second statement was taken from the victim after she changed her earlier version of events. In that statement she named Frank Button as the rapist. Police typed her new answers into a radically altered version of events.

Police also took a statement from Frank Button's nephew, Lester Malone, who claimed Button had confessed the rape to him while they were in a park shortly after Button had been charged. Malone's statement fell apart when it was revealed that Button went straight to jail after he was charged and the confession in the park couldn't have possibly occurred. Malone later withdrew his statement and claimed in court the investigating detective had intimidated him and put words in his mouth, a claim the detective denied.

The case against Button relied heavily on the testimony of the young victim whose evidence was confused and contradictory. A school guidance counsellor testified that she had a mental age of eight or nine and an IQ half that of her peers. The trial judge also commented that her memory and knowledge of the events were limited but in the end it was up to the all-white Kingaroy jury to decide what to believe. They believed the girl.

Frank Button was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. At the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, Wacol, he became the target of violence and brutal rape by other mainstream prisoners. Although prison authorities placed Button in protective custody the violent abuse continued because he was classed as a 'rock spider' - a prisoner accused of sex crimes against children. When Button maintained his innocence and refused to do a sex offender's course, Queensland prison authorities told him he lacked remorse and would serve the entire seven years without remission.

His legal team requested further DNA testing of the vaginal swabs and the bed linen from the crime scene. When scientists at the John Tonge Centre re-tested the semen taken from the young victim, a male DNA profile was finally discovered. That discovery resulted in the DNA testing of the bed linen, which revealed traces of semen matching the profile on the swab. The DNA profile from the swab and the bed-sheet was then entered into a database of DNA samples taken from prisoners and a match was recorded. The DNA profile on both the bed-sheet and the swab from the victim was not Button's, it belonged to a prisoner doing time for another rape. He was a youth from the girl's community who had been convicted of a separate assault.

The biologist who did the DNA testing was cross-examined by Button's counsel and asked why he hadn't tested the bed linen prior to the trial. A forensic examination would have clearly established Button's innocence because the semen on the bed linen did not contain Button's DNA profile. According to the ABC's Four Corners, the biologist answered: "The tests were directed to try and implicate your client."

On April 12, 2001 the Queensland Court of Appeal immediately ordered Button's release from prison after the new DNA evidence established he was innocent of the rape. The court's judgment contained a blistering criticism of the Queensland criminal justice system:

"Today is a black day in the history of the administration of criminal justice. What is of major concern to this court is the fact that that evidence was not available at the trial. This court can do little so far as compensation to the appellant for the fact that he has had to suffer the ignominy of a conviction for rape which now proves to be entirely false."

3) On 25 April 1997 Marc Andre Renton, 30, was convicted in Southport District Court, Queensland, Australia, of robbing the Biggera Waters and Paradise Point National banks.

Renton was arrested by Queensland police at Runaway Bay on 19 June 1996 and was originally charged with three bank robberies at Morningside, Biggera Waters and Paradise Point but a District Court jury acquitted Renton of the Morningside robbery.

Another accused, Brunetta Festa, 35, was also charged in relation to the Biggera Waters and Paradise Point bank robberies in what the Queensland news media dubbed "The Bonnie and Clyde Robberies".

The strength of the Crown case against Renton relied upon DNA evidence delivered by Kenneth Joseph Cox, forensic scientist at The John Tonge Centre, which the Crown argued was conclusive and irrefutable proof that established Renton's guilt in relation to the Biggera Waters bank robbery.