Perth, Western Australia June 14, 2003 Home News Down South Impressions This Week Theatre Cinema Books Letters Classifieds Search Submit Real Estate Online Archives Edition List Search AboutUs Contact Us About Us Legal Production Rate Card Readership &  Distribution Subscribe	QC asks judges to visit scene of '94 murder Three Supreme Court judges have been invited to visit a Mosman Park murder scene to help them understand a convicted murderer's contention about what could be seen on the wintry late afternoon of the murder. They have been invited by a lawyer to go to the shop in Glyde Street that was once Flora Metallica, where Pamela Lawrence was murdered in May, 1994. The state of Andrew Mallard's vision has emerged as a new argument in his fight to clear his name over the brutal murder of Mrs Lawrence. Mallard (41) is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted by a jury. His second appeal over the killing began in the Court of Criminal Appeal this week. In a visit to the scene, called a "view", the court adjourns from the courtroom at the Supreme Court and re-convenes, still with the status of a court, at an outside site. During his unsuccessful first appeal, a key issue was evidence that he had "locked eyes" with a girl sitting in the passenger seat of a car waiting at the Stirling Highway lights just after 5pm on May 23, 1994. During that appeal, the three judges found that both the girl and Mallard had used the term "locked eyes" in interviews with police. Mallard's lawyer, Malcolm McCusker QC, told the judges that it had been discovered only recently through Mallard's mother that her son had been diagnosed with myopia before the murder and would not have been able to see the eyes of the girl sitting in a car with tinted windows on a stormy afternoon. He said the "locked eyes" term had been suggested to Mallard by police. He invited the three Appeal Court judges to visit the scene for themselves and try looking out of the shop window at the same car the girl had sat in. No decision will be made on a "view" until the appeal hears evidence of Mallard's sight. Bruno Fiannaca, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, said there were other passages in Mallard's evidence that showed he had quite good sight. He had gone to the roof of Dover Court flats to make sure a taxi had left, and described looking into Mrs Lawrence's shop, Flora Metallica, later that evening and seeing a male police officer shining a torch at something on the floor. He had walked around a police van parked outside at the time. Other new evidence introduced at his appeal this week includes sketches made by the girl in the car who saw a man in Mrs Lawrence's Glyde Street shop around the time of the attack. Other new evidence, including sketches made of the man in the shop by the girl in the car, have emerged in court at this appeal after nine years. The sketches were made by the 13-year-old St Hilda's student only hours after seeing the man. Mallard's defence team did not know about the sketches until this year. The girl gave evidence at Mallard's trial that she had taken special note of the man in the shop because she knew Mrs Lawrence and the man had been in a non-public area of the shop. It emerged this week that her grandmother who was driving the car told her to go home and sketch the man she had seen. Mr McCusker said that had the sketches been known to Mallard's defence, they could have been compared with a police photograph of Mallard taken on the day of the murder. Mallard at the time had long hair, a bushy moustache and was unshaven. The sketch showed a man wearing a "gypsy scarf" around his head, no moustache but a beard. Mr Fiannaca said the sketch added nothing to the girl's statement to police and her evidence in court, which accurately reflected what was in the sketch. Her testimony was not identification evidence, but a description of the behaviour of the man in the shop. The court was also told of experiments on a pig's head conducted by state pathologist Clive Cooke. Dr Cooke said that the head wounds Mrs Lawrence suffered matched "comfortably" electrical anodes found in Flora Metallica. But when he experimented with an anode, it bent easily and left copper deposits in the pig's head. No copper was found in Mrs Lawrence's wounds. Last year he had conducted another experiment using a Sidchrome adjustable spanner provided to him by John Quigley, a lawyer for Mallard. He concluded that this spanner could not have been the weapon used to kill Mrs Lawrence. A sketch Mallard made of a spanner was tendered at his trial. Mallard had written the word "Sidchrome" on the handle. Mr Cooke said that this drawing was significantly different from the spanner he had used in the test, and it was possible that a spanner like the one drawn by Mallard had caused the injuries to Mrs Lawrence. He had never seen a spanner like it, although he had checked with a friend who owned an automotive workshop. Mr Fiannaca suggested that the drawing was of a gas-fitter's ratchet spanner. On the first day of the hearing in the Court of Criminal Appeal, a legal team of nine helped present Mallard's case, with 24 big files of documents. The city law firm of Clayton Utz has donated its services, as have Mr McCusker and Labor MP John Quigley. The three judges at one point considered shutting the long-awaited appeal until a much later date because of the way TV stations reported the first day of the hearing. The judges and the DPP were concerned news and current affairs broadcasts could influence witnesses who have yet to appear before the court. Justice Kevin Parker said: "It has been of such concern that there was a real prospect of an adjournment and for a long time." He is one of three judges hearing the appeal. On Tuesday night, some TV news bulletins showed interviews with a Mallard family member, and several, including the 7.30 Report, showed videotape of Mallard doing an electronic lie detector test. A longer segment on the ABC's 7.30 Report showed more of the lie detector, or polygraph, test. Mr Fiannaca said the reliability and scientific validity of polygraph testing would be challenged later in the appeal. Expert evidence brought by the crown would show it was "totally unreliable", he said. The 7.30 Report had shown extra video of the testing that had not been made available to the crown. Mr Fiannaca said this amounted to non-disclosure of evidence by Mallard's team. The footage was a very important part of the evidence needed to establish the reliability of the test. The crown was also concerned that lay witnesses yet to be called for the appeal would be influenced by the report. The video footage had not been admitted into evidence and was not in the public domain. He said the DPP was considering whether to take contempt of court proceedings against the TV channel concerned. Justice Len Roberts-Smith said there was potential for the report to have an impact on witnesses. He said: "I can think of witnesses who are uncertain about certain things." Justice Christine Wheeler said the 7.30 Report segment went beyond a fair and accurate report of the court proceedings. It was emotive and one-sided, she said. Justice Parker said the reports had the appearance of something of an orchestrated campaign. He said it could have a long-term effect on the way the public viewed the courts. He said: "The extremely one-sided reporting creates in the public mind an expectation that is disappointed when the court makes a decision based on all the evidence before it. "The perception is created that the court is out of touch with the reality of the case." He said the question of whether any polygraph evidence would be received was open to submissions. He said if there were any recurrence of the type of reporting seen on some TV bulletins on Tuesday night, the court would consider at least a suppression order, or the need for an adjournment. Mr McCusker said the polygraph footage had been provided to media about a year ago by supporters of Mallard out of "desperation". He said it had been provided on the understanding it would not be aired until shown in court. Mr McCusker said: "Channel 2 took the view that once it [the polygraph] was mentioned in court, that was the trigger." Mrs Lawrence's husband Peter reported finding her in her shop in Glyde Street after closing time on May 23, 1994. She had been bashed and was dying. The Lawrences have two daughters. Mallard denies killing Mrs Lawrence. Mr McCusker said statements Mallard made to the police in 1994 were theories aimed at helping the police so they would leave him alone. Most of the statements, made on video and off-camera, were in the third person, saying what an unknown assailant would have done; others were in the first person. He said the times given by independent witnesses made it impossible for Mallard to have murdered Mrs Lawrence and "locked eyes" with the girl in the car afterwards, as his confession stated. The girl said she saw the man in the shop at 5.02pm. A customer had phoned the shop and spoken to Mrs Lawrence at 5.10pm. Mallard was seen in a lift of a nearby block of flats at 5.22pm. BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.