Key to freedom bid
Neill-Fraser appeal to focus on homeless teenage girl
CONVICTED killer Sue NeillFraser could walk free from jail this year if she can prove one crucial point – whether or not her lover was attacked on their yacht in the presence of a homeless teenage girl.
Neill-Fraser, 65, appeared in the Tasmanian Court of Criminal Appeal via video link from Mary Hutchinson Women’s Prison yesterday ahead of a 10-day appeal scheduled for May 25.
It will be the grandmother’s second – and possibly final – bid for freedom after she was jailed for 23 years for killing Royal Hobart Hospital chief physicist Bob Chappell, 65, on Australia Day 2009.
Neill-Fraser’s Melbournebased lawyer Paul Galbally said the 10 days would focus on ground 1.1 of the appeal, which claims there is “fresh and compelling evidence” that “Meaghan Vass had boarded the Four Winds, and the deceased was attacked while she was on board”. “We would then seek the court to rule on that ground,” Mr Galbally said. “If necessary, the matter can proceed with the balance of the grounds.”
Ms Vass – then aged 15 – was a homeless girl whose DNA was found at the crime scene.
The court previously heard she will be called to give evidence during the hearing.
Ground 1.2 relates to fresh evidence over DNA testing, luminol blood staining tests at the crime scene, and Neill-Fraser’s claims that a winching reconstruction of the Four Winds was misleading during her initial trial.
Mr Galbally said ground 1.3 – which asserts a dinghy seen near the Four Winds about the time Mr Chappell was attacked, and that the vessel was not the Four Winds’ tender – may or may not proceed.
Speaking outside court, supporter Rosie CrumptonCrook noted it had been four years since Neill-Fraser had lodged her first appeal.
“It seems pretty tragic to us that this is how long it’s taking,” she said.
“It’s difficult. We’re not going to give up and we’re not going to go away – we know Sue is innocent and we’ll fight for her as long as this takes.”
Fellow supporter Jennie Herrera said progression was “slow but positive”.
“She’s feeling positive. It’s a long road, waiting for May and it’s a long time in prison – she’s been there 10 years and she shouldn’t have been,” she said.
Mr Chappell’s body has never been found.
Yesterday, judges Helen Wood, Robert Pearce and Stephen Estcourt adjourned the matter for another potential directions hearing at a date to be determined.