The John Tonge Centre, DNA evidence and miscarriages of justice - Part 2

During the pre-trial hearing on April 24, 2002, Blair changed his opinion about the key DNA evidence after a forensic biologist hired by the defence, Lazlo Szabo, revealed the existence of a second DNA profile from an unknown person also present on the stamp.

Szabo, from Tasmania's Forensic Science Laboratory Centre, believed the presence of the second person's DNA was evident at twice the levels recorded by Blair. His report detailing the second DNA profile was given to the Crown two months before the pre-trial hearing. Although the presence of the second person's DNA was indicated within a table in Blair's reports, it was not mentioned in the text because, as he testified at the pre-trial hearing, the second profile was a “stutter” - an anomaly in the testing procedures.

The presence of a second DNA profile was evidence that could have freed Mrs Thomas months earlier but the Crown opted to remain silent about its existence until they were forced during the pre-trial hearing to concede the legal significance of two DNA profiles being present. Prosecutor Paul Rutledge argued that the Crown’s silence resulted from a difference of opinion between the two experts.

Rutledge, who had successfully prosecuted Ronald Henry Thomas at his 1994 murder trial, withdrew the charges in Brisbane Supreme Court on April 26, 2002.

Frank Alan Button, 32, served 10 months of a 7-year sentence for the rape of a 13-year-old intellectually impaired girl before independent DNA testing established he was not the perpetrator of the crime.

The young girl claimed she had been assaulted during a party at her mother's home at Cherbourg, southern Queensland, on February 17, 1999. The following day she told two school friends she might be pregnant because she'd been raped. The school principal called the police and detectives took her back to the house where the rape had occurred.

Frank Button was asleep in a drunken stupor inside the house when police arrived. He became the prime suspect because he was wearing a shirt similar to the one the girl described to the police. Button was taken to the local police station where he was interviewed and subsequently charged with rape and locked up.

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, Button claimed 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.