In this project, we learnt about the principles of justice that uphold Australia’s legal system, such as the presumption of innocence, an impartial judiciary, and the right to legal representation. I studied the case of Lloyd Rayney and analysed how these principles were both upheld and violated in this case. After writing an essay on the topic, we were required to incorporate feedback and edit the essay so that it was fit for online publication. This essay is the result of that editing process. It demonstrates my ability to take feedback, and to refine a piece of written work to produce a professional result.
On the night of August 7th, 2007 Corryn Rayney disappears after her weekly boot scooting class. this was a common thing for Corryn to do each week as she had been doing it for years. She was last seen at 9:30pm which was when she left for her class. On August 14th, 2007 police found her car on Kershaw street Subiaco, a couple days later, on the 16th her body was found in a bush grave in Kings Park, they had followed an oil leak from her car. On the 22nd of August they search they Rayneys family home to see if there is any evidence of her murder, it was said there was no blood found and they concluded that he is not a suspect of her murder at this stage a month later detective lee says Mr. Rayney is the prime and only suspect of his wife’s and is charged for bugging his wife’s phone. On December 8th, 2008 detectives charge him with the murder of his wife after arresting him in Perth CBD this is because it is said that the accused killed the deceased at their family home in Como after she returned then drove her car and took her dead body and buried it in Kings Park then taking the 90 minute walk home but one of his daughters was asleep at home and the other was at a concert and she was expected to be home by 9:30 that night doing this would have been a large risk of one of them seeing him kill her, see him take her body and drive off to kings park, the next day he made an appearance in Perth’s magistrates court saying he will plead not guilty to the charge. In court it is vital that all the principles of justice are upheld during a court case. However, in some cases such as the Rayney case they aren’t always supported as much as they could be. One principle that is upheld in appeals and some that aren’t are trial by media and evidence.
Cases must be resolved in a fair and unbiased way. The Australian legal system has made it that if someone thinks they have been unfairly trialled and want it to be read by a judge in a higher court as it is a law that people can appeal however it must be a really good reason to why they want to do this, in Rayneys case they agreed to go forward with this. On December 9th, 2010 Mr. Rayney went to the magistrate’s court for his trial. The reason he appealed is because he felt that he would not be trialled fairly with a jury because of what citizens have seen on the media would cause them to make a biased decision on his case.
Trial by media is when the television or newspaper have a huge impact on what society think on some cases effecting one’s reputation and making others assume, they are guilty. This effected the Rayney case as Lloyd couldn’t have a fair trial because others won’t think open-mindedly about the situation and will just assume, he is guilty based on what they have heard on the news. I think that citizens should keep their opinions aside and listen to what his point of view is and consider the evidence provided to them before they make their final decision on what they think. If they put themselves in his shoes, they wouldn’t wanted to be treated in such an unfair and unbiased matter.
Evidence was a major principle in the case as it was one that was compromised. Evidence is what helps the judge conclude and find out whether the accused is innocent or guilty. However, the evidence must be credible before it can be used in court. When they found Corryns body in Kings Park they did a quick search to see what evidence they have. This is to make sure that they can preserve all the evidence they have so they can try and find out what happened. However, when they were doing the more thorough examination on her body, they found 3 liquid amber seed pods on her body 2 in her hair and one in the body bag. Mr. Edwardson said that he doesn’t remember finding them there when they found her body and they would have been hard not to notice as they are quite big and spikey. In result of this Mr. Edwardson said they assume the police planted the evidence on Corryns corpse to make everyone suspect him of her murder as they have a liquid amber tree in their backyard. When Mr. Rayney went to court the judge used that as not evidence as it wasn’t credible enough. It was also said that some important evidence that was involved in the case was not considered by the court at his trial. Connected to this on November 1st, 2012 Mr. Rayney is found not guilty of Murder. Justice Martine found the case against Rayney lacked logic and crucial evidence.
In conclusion the Rayney case had many principles of justice that were involved. Some were upheld and others weren’t. One principle that was upheld was appeals, this is because Mr. Rayney made one to only be trialled by a judge as the jury would be biased towards him as they already made their decision on whether he is guilty or not. One principle that wasn’t upheld was evidence, this is because the police tampered with the evidence by adding 3 liquid amber seed pods to her body to make people suspect Rayney of his wife’s murder as they had a tree that produced these in their backyard. In this case the police were very biased towards Mr. Rayney as they wanted people to believe he was responsible for his murder.
Lloyd and Corryn Rayney