Book description
The shocking story of the unresolved murder of baby Deidre Kennedy. As
her parent's slept on Friday April 13, 1973 17-month old Deidre Kennedy
was snatched from her cot. Tossed like trash on top of a toilet block in
a nearby park, dawn revealed the obscenity of her murder. Dressed in
women's underwear, her chubby thigh showed bruising inflicted by bite
marks. She had been bashed, sexually assaulted and strangled. There was
no eyewitness. No motive. No confession. No closure for Deidre's family.
Three decades on, they are still waiting. In 1985 - eleven years after
her death - former RAAF technician Raymond John Carroll was found guilty
of her murder and later acquitted on appeal. In 2000, he was found
guilty of perjury on the grounds that he lied when he said he did not
kill the baby. Acquitted for the second time - this time on double
jeopardy - the case went all the way to the Australian High Court, which
dismissed the Crown's appeal. He could never be re-tried again. A
bewildered Australian public, at a loss to understand the technicalities
of the law clamoured for explanations. Late in 2003 the United Kingdom
successfully passed a Bill that modified the rule of double jeopardy.
The Crown now has a right to appeal acquittals when 'new and compelling
evidence' comes to light - laws which operate retrospectively. In
Australia, change has been excruciatingly slow. This is an intensely
personal story about the casualties of murder: private lives thrown open
to public scrutiny, families shattered by grief and a loss of faith in
the judicial system. Against legal advice and for the first time,
Raymond John Carroll and his family spoke to Debi Marshall about the
crime for which he has been twice accused and which, despite two
acquittals, continues to haunt him. Informed by interviews with Deidre's
shattered family, police, lawyers and forensic scientists,Justice in
Jeopardy is a thought-provoking and harrowing true story that will make
you weep. For Deidre, whose short life and appalling death spearheaded
the call for an overhaul of an ancient law called Double Jeopardy; for
her heartbroken family whose lives have been ruined by her murder and
for justice denied. Debi Marshall is a journalist and author who lives
in Hobart. She has written a number of biographies and true crime
titles, including The House of Hancock: The Rise and Rise of Gina
Rinehart, Justice in Jeopardy: The unsolved murder of baby Deidre
Kennedy and Killing For Pleasure: the definitive story of the Snowtown
serial murders.
