Canadian will seek to recover $1m fees
Man who spent four years in prison on charges of murdering his wife plans to sue Australian courts and police
CALGARY — An Alberta man who spent nearly four years in an Australian prison accused of killing his wife, will seek to recover the nearly $1 million in legal fees spent to secure his freedom.
Rory Christie, 36, of Lloydminster, Alta., arrived home from Australia Saturday night, only one day after a judge threw out the case against him.
It was an emotional reunion with friends and family — including Christie’s nine- year- old son Fraser — who haven’t seen the computer expert since he was charged in 2001 with the murder of his estranged wife, Susan, who vanished that November and hasn’t been seen since.
After a full-night’s sleep at his parent’s home in the city on the Alberta- Saskatchewan border, Christie said he’s looking forward to rebuilding the relationship with his son and spending the holidays with his family.
“ A lot of time and money was stolen from me that shouldn’t have been,” Christie told the Calgary Herald Sunday in a telephone interview from Lloydminster. “We can only hope we can move forward from here.”
Christie’s ordeal began in 2001 when Susan Christie, a 42-yearold native Australian, disappeared without a trace from her Perth apartment.
The couple had met in Canada in 1995, were married and then moved back to Perth, where their son Fraser was born.
Years later, the marriage began to crumble and the pair legally separated.
By 2001, Rory Christie had won full custody of Fraser, after evidence in family court showed Susan had surrounded herself with hard-drinking, hard-living friends and several lovers.
She disappeared on Nov. 15 or 16, 2001. Rory Christie was charged several months later with her murder despite the fact his estranged wife’s body was never recovered.
Christie was found guilty in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison.
Last March, his conviction was scrapped and a new trial ordered with Christie still accused. That retrial started last month.
On Friday, Judge John McKechnie ordered the charges dropped and Christie released due to lack of evidence.
Christie, who always denied killing his wife, said Sunday he was targeted by Australian police who used outdated technology and shoddy detective work to build a case against him.
“ Basically, I guess that the police department there had a history of getting away with soft forensics,” he said. “They didn’t care if I was guilty or not. They wanted to get someone.”
Christie got the feeling investigators “made it a personal thing.”
“If we held the case to Canadian standards, there wouldn’t have been a trial,” he said. “Everything they did was completely flawed and exaggerated.”
Christie will spend the holidays skiing and snowmobiling with his family and friends.
It’s unlikely he will ever return to Australia. Prosecutors have said they will abandon the case against him.
“ All my family is here so I don’t have too much to go back to,” he said.
Christie still holds out some hope that Susan Christie will be found. If she was murdered, he would like to see her killer punished.
“ As for my son, she was his mother. I’d like for him to have that,” he said.
Christie plans to pursue a malicious prosecution case against police and the courts.
Calgary Herald