Our cases.
Khalid Baker.
In 2005, young Australian amateur boxer Khalid Baker attended a party in a converted warehouse in Brunswick, Victoria. At this party, it is alleged that Khalid caused Albert Snowball to fall from a window, resulting in his death.
Khalid and his co-accused LM were jointly tried for Mr Snowball’s murder.
In 2008, a jury found Khalid guilty of murder and LM was acquitted.
Khalid was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 12 years.
Keli Lane.
On 12 September, 1996, Keli Lane gave birth to her second daughter, Tegan. Two days later at the hospital, she handed Tegan over to the baby’s biological father Andrew, with whom she had had a brief affair. Three years later, Keli gave birth to her son and decided to put this child up for adoption but stated to the adoption workers that this was her first child. A Community Services worker discovered that Keli had given birth twice previously and that while Keli had given her first daughter up for adoption in 1995, there was no trace of Tegan. The police were notified about a missing child and began to investigate. When she was interviewed by the police, Keli explained that she had given Tegan to Andrew to care for. Police searches for Tegan and Andrew were not successful and eventually Keli was indicted for murder.
Boronika Hothnyang.
In 2011, Boronika Hothnyang was arrested for the murder of her best friend William Awu, who died from a stab wound in the chest, with a kitchen knife.
It happened in a public-housing flat, South-East of Melbourne, where Boronika, William and six other individuals were all heavily drinking.
The case was riddled with inconsistent witness statements and there was a lack of forensic evidence.
In 2012, a trial by jury found Boronika guilty, and she was sentenced to 14 years in jail with a non parole period of 10 years and 6 months.
Glenn Weaven.
Glenn Weaven was convicted in 2011 for the murder of Mary-Lou Cook, following a controversial undercover "Mr. Big" operation in which he allegedly confessed to the crime. His case has since raised significant concerns about the reliability of his confession, as well as the ethics of the covert tactics used by police.
In 2015, the Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative (BOHII) began reviewing his conviction, identifying serious flaws in the investigation, including overlooked alternative suspects and inconsistencies in the evidence, casting doubt on the safety of his conviction.
Stephen Jamieson.
Stephen Jamieson was convicted along with four co-accused in one of the most high-profile and confronting crimes in Australian history.
On 8 September 1988, Janine Balding, a 20-year-old bank teller from Sydney, was abducted at knifepoint from Sutherland railway station by a group of homeless youths. She was subsequently raped and murdered. The horrific nature of this crime was further amplified by the ages of the offenders, who were later convicted. These included Bronson Blessington, aged 14, Matthew Elliott, aged 16, Wayne Wilmot, aged 15, Carol Arrow, aged 15, and Stephen Jamieson, aged 22, the eldest of the group.
Jamieson has consistently maintained his innocence, with his conviction primarily based on a purported confession to police, a confession that remains highly contentious due to a range of evidentiary and procedural issues. Jamieson has been imprisoned since 1988.
