THE FATHER OF a baby who mysteriously vanished in the Australian Outback in 1980 says he believes a new inquest into his daughter’s death will officially rule that a dingo took the child.
Michael and Lindy Chamberlain have claimed for over 30 years that a dingo snatched their infant daughter Azaria as the family camped near Uluru (Ayers Rock) on 17 August 1980. The child’s body was never recovered.
Three inquests have been held already into the death of nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain.
The first, in 1981, found that a dingo was responsible for the death. However, this was overturned a year later and a second inquest found that charges could be brought against the Chamberlains. A 1995 inquest returned an open finding.
A fourth inquest is due to open in February 2012 to review the open finding returned in 1995. Azaria’s death is officially listed as ‘unknown’, but her parents are hoping that this fourth inquest will definitively blame a dingo.
Northern Territory Coroner Elizabeth Morris said yesterday that she would examine new evidence being brought by the baby’s parents concerning dingo attacks on children.
‘Meaningful attempt to determine cause’
Michael Chamberlain told the Associated Press today that he is confident that the coroner will reach the same conclusion as the very first inquest into the death did – that a dingo was responsible: “I don’t think people open inquests without thinking there’s good reason for it and that means there’d have to be a change from the status quo of the open finding that was in 1995.”
“I am pleasantly surprised and very grateful that at long last there’s a meaningful attempt … to determine the proper cause and truth about how my daughter died,” he said.
Lindy Chamberlain, who has since remarried and taken the name Chamberlain-Creighton, spent four years in prison after being convicted of the murder of her daughter and sentenced to life in prison. Her former husband Michael was given a suspended sentence after being convicted of acting as her accessory after the fact.
Both convictions were later quashed after the couple was exonerated by royal commission inquiry in 1987.
The nine-week-old baby’s disappearance and the ensuing legal action against her parents inspired the film A Cry in the Dark starring Meryl Streep. Streep was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Lindy Chamberlain.
- Additional reporting by the Associated Press
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