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| Gerard Baden-Clay's murder conviction downgraded to manslaughter | Gerard Baden-Clay's murder conviction downgraded to manslaughter |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Queensland court of appeal has overturned the murder conviction of Gerard Baden-Clay, finding him guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter. | The Queensland court of appeal has overturned the murder conviction of Gerard Baden-Clay, finding him guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter. |
| The 45-year-old former Brisbane real estate agent and descendent of boy scouts founder Lord Baden-Powell was convicted by a jury last year of murdering his wife Allison at their Brookfield home in 2012. | The 45-year-old former Brisbane real estate agent and descendent of boy scouts founder Lord Baden-Powell was convicted by a jury last year of murdering his wife Allison at their Brookfield home in 2012. |
| But the appeal court justice Hugh Fraser on Tuesday announced that the murder conviction would be set aside and replaced with manslaughter. | But the appeal court justice Hugh Fraser on Tuesday announced that the murder conviction would be set aside and replaced with manslaughter. |
| It paves the way for Baden-Clay to be resentenced next year, with the maximum penalty for manslaughter being 15 years in prison. | |
| Baden-Clay’s legal team had argued earlier this year, before a court composed of Fraser, the chief justice, Catherine Holmes and justice Robert Gotterson, that Allison’s killing may have been unintentional. | |
| A murder conviction in Queensland carries a mandatory life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years. | A murder conviction in Queensland carries a mandatory life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 15 years. |
| In a statement, Allison Baden-Clay’s family said they were disappointed by the decision and remained supportive of the original findings of the court. | In a statement, Allison Baden-Clay’s family said they were disappointed by the decision and remained supportive of the original findings of the court. |
| “They await the legal process to play out in the hope that justice for Allison will be served,” the statement said. | “They await the legal process to play out in the hope that justice for Allison will be served,” the statement said. |
| In a published decision, the court found that the jury’s verdict of murder was unreasonable, as the crown case failed to establish beyond doubt that Baden-Clay had intended to kill his wife. | |
| The court found the crown case that Baden-Clay deliberately killed his wife rested on evidence of his “consciousness of guilt” in telling lies about scratches on his face coupled with the disposal of Allison’s body. | |
| It was found underneath a bridge at Kholo creek, 10 days after Baden-Clay reported her missing to police in April 2012. | |
| Baden-Clay told police, doctors and jurors scratches visible on his face the morning she went missing were shaving cuts, but the crown said they were fingernail scratches from his wife during a fatal struggle. | |
| The appeal court found it was open to the jury to find that Baden-Clay was lying, which suggested guilt about his role in her death. But his lies could have pointed to him acting in panic after accidentally causing his wife’s death, rather than murdering her, the court found. | |
| “To put it another way, there remained in this case a reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence of murder: that there was a physical confrontation between the appellant and his wife in which he delivered a blow which killed her (for example, by the effects of a fall hitting her head against a hard surface) without intending to cause serious harm; and, in a state of panic and knowing that he had unlawfully killed her, he took her body to Kholo Creek in the hope that it would be washed away, while lying about the causes of the marks on his face which suggested conflict.” | |
| The crown case that Baden-Clay had smothered his wife was “a reasonable possibility” but while another equally reasonable conclusion was available on the evidence, “the jury could not properly have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the element of intent to kill or do grievous bodily harm had been proved”. | |
| The court dismissed the crown’s argument that Baden-Clay’s motive for killing his wife could be explained in part by emotional and financial pressures he was under. | |
| These included an affair with a former employee who was to attend the same property conference as Allison the day he reported her missing, and problems in his real estate business which led him to seek a $300,000 loan from then-state government MP Bruce Flegg. | |
| The court found no evidence of motive “in the sense of a reason to kill, and the appellant had never intimated any intention of harming his wife”. | |
| The lack of any signs of blood or a struggle at the house, or evidence of loud noise, suggested that whatever led to Allison’s death was “quick” and without “repeated infliction of injury”. | |
| Her body on examination did not show any injury which Baden-Clay might have been “motivated to conceal”. | |
| The court gave the crown until 15 January to file submissions on Baden-Clay’s resentencing, and his legal team until 22 January. |