news, local-news, Susan Neill-Fraser, court, crime, appeal, Supreme Court of Tasmania, Tasmania
Susan Neill-Fraser has filed a notice to appeal her murder conviction for a second time in the Supreme Court of Tasmania. Under new state legislation introduced in 2015, Neill-Fraser won a bid to appeal her conviction a second time on the basis "fresh and compelling evidence establishes there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice". Neill-Fraser is currently serving a 23-year sentence for the murder of her partner Bob Chappell who disappeared off their yacht, the Four Winds, on Australia Day, 2009. Neill-Fraser was convicted on circumstantial evidence and was found unanimously guilty by a jury in 2010. She maintains her innocence. The appeal notice states there is fresh and compelling evidence a witness, Meaghan Vass, had boarded the Four Winds and Mr Chappell was attacked while she was on board. Under the same ground of appeal, Neill-Fraser's lawyers will argue evidence led by the prosecution in relation to the results of, and inferences that could be drawn from, DNA testing and Luminol testing were misleading, as was a winching reconstruction on the Four Winds. "In addition, the dingy seen near the Four Winds around the time [Mr Chappell] was attacked was not the Four Winds' tender," the notice said. A date for the hearing of Neill-Fraser's second appeal has not yet been set by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
APPEAL: Susan Neill-Fraser aboard the Four Winds yacht. Picture: Facebook
Susan Neill-Fraser has filed a notice to appeal her murder conviction for a second time in the Supreme Court of Tasmania.
Under new state legislation introduced in 2015, Neill-Fraser won a bid to appeal her conviction a second time on the basis "fresh and compelling evidence establishes there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice".
Neill-Fraser is currently serving a 23-year sentence for the murder of her partner Bob Chappell who disappeared off their yacht, the Four Winds, on Australia Day, 2009.
Neill-Fraser was convicted on circumstantial evidence and was found unanimously guilty by a jury in 2010.
She maintains her innocence.
The appeal notice states there is fresh and compelling evidence a witness, Meaghan Vass, had boarded the Four Winds and Mr Chappell was attacked while she was on board.
Under the same ground of appeal, Neill-Fraser's lawyers will argue evidence led by the prosecution in relation to the results of, and inferences that could be drawn from, DNA testing and Luminol testing were misleading, as was a winching reconstruction on the Four Winds.
"In addition, the dingy seen near the Four Winds around the time [Mr Chappell] was attacked was not the Four Winds' tender," the notice said.
A date for the hearing of Neill-Fraser's second appeal has not yet been set by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
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