A convicted murderer jailed for life for a crime he says he did not commit has lost a bid to have his case re-heard in the nation’s highest court, despite two of the judges saying there is a “significant possibility” he is innocent.
Derek John Bromley and an accomplice, John Karpany, were jailed for life for the 1984 murder of Stephen Docoza after his body was found floating in Adelaide’s River Torrens.
Since his conviction, multiple appeals have been dismissed, but Bromley has always maintained his innocence.
Bromley’s latest appeal bid, which took him to the high court, claimed testimony provided by the prosecution’s central witness, Gary Carter, was unreliable.
Fresh psychiatric and psychological evidence around Carter’s schizoaffective disorder meant there was an “extremely high likelihood” that his account of events was inaccurate, Bromley’s lawyers had argued.
But a majority of the bench – including the chief justice, Stephen Gageler, and justices Jacqueline Gleeson and Jayne Jagot – dismissed his application for special leave to appeal on Wednesday.
“The fresh psychiatric and psychological evidence was not compelling as it was not highly probative in the context of the relevant issue in dispute at trial,” the judgment said.
“That is, the reliability of Mr Carter’s evidence identifying the applicant as the man who attacked Mr Docoza on 4 April 1984.”
But in a minority judgment, justices James Edelman and Simon Steward found the appeal should have gone ahead, arguing there was “a substantial miscarriage of justice”.
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The pair found the fresh evidence compelling and “plainly in the interests of justice” that it be considered on appeal.
“The minority concluded that there was a significant possibility that an innocent person had been convicted,” the judgment said.
Bromley has been in prison since 1985, having been denied parole because he has maintained his innocence throughout.
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