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A 51-year-old man was found guilty of the murder of Irish Ciara Glennon and another young woman more than 20 years ago after Australia’s longest and most expensive criminal investigation.
Bradley Robert Edwards, a former Western Australian coach, was convicted of the murders of Glennon and Jane Rimmer, but acquitted of the murder of Sarah Spiers in what became known as the Claremont serial murder case.
These refer to the deaths of Ms Rimmer (23), Ms Glennon (27) and Ms Spiers (18), between 1996 and 1997. The three women disappeared after going out at night in the district of Claremont entertainment in the eponymous western suburb of Perth.
Ms. Glennon, whose family was originally from Westport, Co Mayo, was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with friends in Perth on March 14, 1997 when she disappeared.
The bodies of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon were found dumped in bushes on opposite ends of Perth. Ms. Spiers was never found and is presumed dead.
Judge Stephen Hall delivered his long-awaited verdict on Thursday.
Arrest
Edwards was arrested in 2016 and charged with intentionally murdering the three women, as well as indecently assaulting an 18-year-old woman during a robbery at her Huntingdale home in February 1988, and kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl. girl in February 1995 in Claremont.
The lengthy trial for judges only ran from November 2019 to June 2020 in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
The case against Edwards was based on “four key elements of evidence,” prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo SC told the court.
The first was a surprise confession from Edwards before the trial began last October. Edwards pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping the 17-year-old girl while she was walking alone through Rowe Park after a night out in Claremont in 1995. He tied her up and took her to the Karrakatta cemetery, where he raped her twice before leaving her naked. in bushes.
Edwards also confessed to breaking into the home of the 18-year-old woman, whom he said he knew, and assaulting her in 1988.
DNA
The prosecution also pointed to the fact that Edwards’ DNA was found under Ms. Glennon’s left thumb and middle finger nail during testing in 2008. Edwards admitted it was her DNA, but said he did not know how it got there. there.
More evidence came from 98 critical fibers found in the bodies of Ms. Rimmer, Ms. Glennon, and the 17-year-old rape survivor.
The fabric fibers found on the three women were made in the unique color “Telstra navy,” and matched the pants that Edwards would have worn in the 1990s as a technician for the Australian mobile phone company Telstra.
Finally, the fibers found in Ms. Rimmer and Ms. Glennon’s hair matched the seat insert and carpet fabric used in a 1996 VS Holden Commodore, the same make and model of car that Edwards drove in the time of their murders.
During the trial, international fiber expert Ray Palmer told the court that it was “highly unlikely” that these fibers arrived by chance.
History of violence
Edwards had a history of violence. When he was 21 years old, he grabbed and tried to shove a kitchen towel into the mouth of a 40-year-old social worker while he was working as a telecommunications technician at the Hollywood hospital. A court-ordered psychological report at the time said Edwards had been distraught that week after his wife de facto confessed to cheating on him.
Multiple witnesses reported seeing a man matching Edwards’s description driving a Telstra vehicle slowly through Claremont and a nearby suburb late at night in the mid-1990s, offering elevators to other women. Witnesses also said they heard a series of high-pitched screams in the Mosman Park area on the night of Ms. Spiers ‘murder, and two of those witnesses saw a car that looked like Edwards’
Unlike the prosecution that called hundreds of witnesses, including Edwards’ ex-wives and former colleagues, the defense did not call any. Edwards also did not testify in her own defense.
The defense case was based on casting doubt on the DNA fragments found under Ms Glennon’s fingernails linking her to Edwards.
Edwards’ attorney, Paul Yovich SC, argued that a “fraction of a nanogram” of DNA was found under his fingernails, which could have gotten there through a chance meeting at the bar where he was the night he disappeared. – Guardian News and Media
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