SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian police are reviewing 7,000 cases solved through the use of DNA evidence after a mistake was discovered in one murder case, a senior officer said Thursday.
The error forced police to apologise and withdraw charges against Russell Gesah, who was accused last month of the 1984 murders of a 35-year-old woman and her nine-year-old daughter, who had also been raped.
Forensic scientists had matched Gesah's DNA to that on the girl's clothing, but realised six days after he was charged that there was a strong chance the evidence had been contaminated by clothing from an unrelated offence.
The evidence used to solve 7,000 crimes in southeastern Victoria state in the 20 years since the technology was introduced would be reviewed, Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland told reporters.
"We think we have a very good system in place to guard against cross contamination," Overland said.
"But we have opted to re-examine all these cases because we believe it is absolutely important to guarantee to the best of our ability the reliability of this evidence.
"In one case, we found a flaw in the system that we've now changed but we've got no reason to believe that the system hasn't worked in all these other cases. But we're going back to review that."
So far, 500 cases have been reviewed and cleared, he said.
Civil liberty groups said the bungled case was a warning over the use of DNA as conclusive evidence, while some lawyers have suggested that it would lead to challenges to such evidence in future cases.
Victorian Council for Civil Liberties vice president Michael Pearce said his association had been urging caution about DNA evidence for some time.
"The problem with DNA is that if you get a match, the evidence is so strong and compelling it almost guarantees conviction," Pearce said, urging courts to demand corroborating evidence.
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