‘Critical’ DNA test concerns dismissed

A FORENSIC scientist at the state-run lab formally raised concerns about the testing of DNA samples from major crimes twice but was dismissed by management.

Reporting scientist Alicia Quartermain told the commission of inquiry into the testing of forensic evidence in Queensland she raised concerns about the Forensic Scientific Services’s unusually high threshold for testing DNA in 2020.

She grew cautious of the testing process after she discovered traces of sperm in samples collected from sexual assault victims.

The scientist said this sort of evidence was critical for assisting an investigation and would more than likely provide a result from testing, given its rich source of DNA.

It also provided a direct indication of who was present when the crime took place.

But, on occasions, these tests returned as DNA insufficient for further processing, which was the result of a new threshold introduced by the lab, double the number of cells required in NSW.

In 2019, she began ignoring the threshold and instigated her own process of further testing samples, which routinely led to a successful identification of usable DNA profiles.

Ms Quartermain collected these results in a spreadsheet and raised these issues to her superiors in April 2020 and then again in 2021, but these concerns were dismissed.

Instead, he was told she was not given permission to continue reworking the DNA samples that fell below the threshold.

In an email shown to the hearing on Monday morning, Ms Quartermain contacted FSS team manager Justine Howes in 2021 to protest against the process, for the second time.

Hearings for the inquiry into the DNA bungle kicked off again on Monday.