Why didn't the corporate media show his face? A 32 year old man? Almost every convicted murderer has their face splashed about in headlines. They reported that Ian Douglas Previte hid his face, sure but the authorities usually give it out. So what made this case so different? A miscarriage of justice. Keep those backpackers coming down under and who cares?Bundaberg's Burnett River traffic bridge was the only witness to this crime.
Australia: A 32-year-old man has been jailed for life for murdering British backpacker Caroline Stuttle in Bundaberg in south-east Queensland on alleged evidence possibly trumped up while he was in prison?
But was he made a scapegoat for the "20 billion dollar tourist industry? And were the alleged statements made by Previte consistent with true confessions made by a guilty person? In other words did Previte make the alleged statements?
Ian Douglas Previte sat expressionless in the dock as he was found guilty by the Supreme Court jury of robbing and murdering Miss Stuttle in 2002.
But did he lack expression? Or was he stunned to become the next victim of a greedy Australian tourist industry? Government and corporate interests, which includes the mainstream media, all desperate to release the tourist industry from the bridgeblock due to a killing of a backpacker in far north Queensland.
The judge said Miss Stuttle should have been enjoying a holiday of a lifetime but instead Previte threw her off Bundaberg's Burnett River traffic bridge for a "miserable few dollars and killed her in the most terrible way".
But Ian Douglas Previte should have been enjoying his life but instead Previte went down for a murder he most likely never committed. Alleged to have thrown Miss Stuttle off Bundjaberg's Burnett River traffic bridge but was he made a scapegoat for the "20 billion dollar tourist industry?
When asked if he wanted to say anything about his sentencing, Previte shook his head. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 10 years for robbery to be served concurrently. Previte was charged with the murder and robbery of the 19-year-old after a 10-month police investigation.
Miss Stuttle's father Alan, brother Richard and former boyfriend Ian Nelson attended the trial. Alan Stuttle spoke to the media outside the court. "We are so relieved that this matter has finally be put to sleep and I think it's important now that we all move forward," he said. He said his family had endured two-and-a-half years of pain and anguish.
Prosecutor Peter Feeney told the jury the petite 19-year-old could only have been thrown from the nine metre-high Burnett River Traffic Bridge because her head barely came up to the railing. "There was an episode of considerable violence on the walkway," Mr Feeney said in his opening address to the Supreme Court murder trial in Bundaberg?
Allegedly: "Previte ignored her screams of terror and forced her over the railing."?
Mr Feeney said Previte, "a drug addict"? Had been sitting on a bench on the bridge about 9pm as Ms Stuttle walked by and had stalked her, intending to snatch her bag to get money for drugs?
Notice that Previte was labelled a "drug addict" but not the accused? If he did take drugs Previte was not unlike three quarters of other Australians? This was the first unfair statement made against the accused.
According to the prosecutor if he was a drug addict then he was also desperate? And could not be trusted? That is if he was a drug addict. Nevertheless any Australian could be labelled as drug addict and should the jury have been alert to the fact that he was this or that. He was a human being first and he was being accused. He said Previte bashed her and threw her over the railing?
Witness
But there were no witnesses? Ms Stuttle died instantly when her skull was fractured and her spine severed.
INCONSISTENT CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE?
Mr Feeney said, "Previte had made three confessions to the killing, once to jail inmates, once to police, and in writing on a picnic table at Baldwin Swamp, Bundaberg."
A) The one to jail inmates is irrelevant as this material was gained illegally after the fact from desperate prison informers in conditions that were not consistent with being described as normal in terms of living in the community. In other words a set-up.
B) Once to police, well where is the signed statement and how was it gained? The papers fail to report.
C) And in writing on a picnic table at Baldwin Swamp, Bundaberg? Again where is the proof? Someone made a mark on a table?
All these facts need to be published so that the community can understand the relevance of the alleged evidence. Juries can be bamboozled into thinking that this evidence is enough to convict a person for life but when closely examined perhaps not.
Ms Stuttle, of York in England, was on a working holiday with a childhood friend and had only been in Bundaberg, 350 kilometres north of Brisbane, for three days when tragedy struck. She was returning to the caravan park where she was staying after calling her boyfriend in England from a pay phone. Ms Stuttle's brother Richard attended court. Outside court, Mr Stuttle said the family missed his sister daily. "It gets a little bit easier, but it's still very, very difficult most days," he said.
Her 65-year-old artist father, Alan Stuttle, a contemporary of David Hockney, said visitors to Queensland should not be deterred by what happened to his daughter. "I don't want people to put a barrier up, to say: 'I aren't go to Bundaberg because of this'," he said.
"Youngsters have to have the freedom to enjoy their lives and not be worrying about security. If we hide, we let the elements that will always kill children win."
What about that this is a statement clearing the way for the tourist industry to get on with 20 billion a year industry no matter who went down for the killing?
Alan Stuttle travelled to Bundaberg to attend the trial.
But the statement by Alan Stuttle brought to you by the corporate media is typical of the tourist industries attempts to clear its name and that's all.
While he was in Australia he planed to paint the places his daughter told him about in text messages she sent home.
"The main thing for me is to see that justice is being done, because the murder of your child you'll never ever wash it off," he said.
[Doesn't matter what scapegoat is set-up for the murder or who done it.]
"It's always going to be there. I've sold all my places in Yorkshire. I couldn't bear going back to my old house and old gallery. Hopefully I've not got too many more years to live. It ruins your life."
[But it ruined the life of Douglas Previte, more likely than not just a simple scapegoat tried by media and authorities. At least if there were a witness to the murder and a decent explanation re the confession that was allegedly given by the alleged offender, then other people could could bear being an Australian citizen and not used to ensure tourism dollars like a scapegoat for the ruling class.]
Justice Peter Dutney has warned the jury to be dispassionate about the case, and not to make Previte a scapegoat for the killing.
But indeed Previte was made a scapegoat for the killing wake up Australia before you become the next corporate victim. The fact is they don't care who they get as long as the gate to Australian tourism remains open.
Well Mr Alan Stuttle I hope justice was done for you and your family if the real killer takes another backpacker somewhere down the track then justice will not be done for them. Is someone going to make sure what was put to the jury was consistent with the guilt of the accused?
Your guess is as good as mine because in Australia today there is no Legal Aid to appeal the worst case.
By Just Us 18 October 04
Related:
Tourist Industry Crime and Trial By Media Coincidences
MILAT WAS FRAMED FOR TOURISM $$$$$ AND THE WINNER IS? NOT IVAN MILAT! The murders were headlines overseas. The State government's public relations machine swung into action. An unprecedented $500,000 reward was offered for the heads of the perpetrators. (Commonsense says there was more than one assailant). Head of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Samaranch, was questioning whether Australia was a safe place to visit.
Ivan Milat loses conviction appeal
Ivan Milat today lost an application in the High Court to appeal against his 1996 conviction for murdering seven backpackers. The 59-year-old had sought special leave to appeal the murder convictions and one count of detaining a person for advantage without legal representation, which includes Legal Aid.
Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.
Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.
Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.
Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.
Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.
Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.
Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.
Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.
Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.
Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.
Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.
Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.
Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.
