SUSAN’S PRISON HUNGER STRIKE
KILLER IN CELL SHIFT PROTEST
SUE NEILL-FRASER, the Risdon inmate at the centre of one of Tasmania’s most notorious murder cases, is on hunger strike.
Neill-Fraser is staging the protest, according to her family, after being moved to a cell next to a woman she has been told by her lawyers to avoid.
The woman is Karen Patricia Nancy Keefe, 41, accused by Tasmania Police of trying to manipu- late Neill-Fraser’s landmark bid to overturn her murder conviction.
Ms Keefe, 41, has pleaded not guilty to charges of perverting justice and corrupting a witness in relation to Neill-Fraser’s latest appeal.
Neill-Fraser’s family said the ailing grandmother was moved to medium security after a search of her cell found contraband, including a pair of children’s craft scissors which had previously been approved.
She has spent the past eight years in the Mary Hutchinson Women’s Prison, after being convicted of the 2009 murder of partner Bob Chappell on board the couple’s yacht, Four Winds.
A family member, who asked not to be named, said Neill-Fraser’s lawyers had advised her to keep clear of Ms Keefe.
They said she had requested to move to maximum security if no other cells away from Ms Keefe were available.
The family is concerned the move might impact on otherwise “model” prison record.
Prisoner’s Legal Service chairman Greg Barns said a search of a prisoner’s cell should only happens when the prisoner was present.
Mr Barns said Neill-Fraser was not present during the search of her cell on Friday
“On the information I’ve received it seems bizarre that a person who is a model prisoner should have her cell searched in this way and, secondly, should be moved into a stricter part of the prison,” he said.
“It’s never a good idea in prisons to place prisoners in close proximity to other prisoners if they’re both involved in some form of litigation.”
A Government spokeswoman said the Tasmanian Prison Service did not comment on individual prisoners or provide detail with respect to security related matters.
“More broadly, [the Tasmanian Prison Service] takes all reasonable measures to manage association issues across facilities,” she said.
Tasmania Police did not provide a comment.
Neill-Fraser is in the middle of her last-ditch appeal, which is due to return to court next March.
Her team will call “key scientific expert” Mark Reynolds, a crime scene specialist, whose evidence will be presented in a bid to discredit the police’s winching reconstruction aboard the Four Winds.