In this project, we learned 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 refine a piece of written work to produce a professional result.

Case summary

A case filled with manipulation alongside a murder, the death of Corryn Rayney is one of WA’s most controversial topics to this day. On Tuesday the 7th of August 2007 Corryn Rayney attended her evening boot scooting class at around 9:30 pm. However, as the night passed Corryn still hadn’t returned home. A few weeks later Corryn’s lifeless body was found in a ditch in kings park. Officials were quick to point fingers at Lloyd despite there being several other possible suspects. The media manipulated the story in order to portray Mr Rayney as his wife’s murderer which led to him and his daughters receiving lots of backlash and hatred from people they had never even met. Trapped in what felt like a neverending nightmare Lloyd Rayney eventually fought his way to justice. He won his defamation trial leading to a payout of 2.6 million dollars the biggest payout of West Australian history. Though Lloyd was later declared innocent the effects of how poorly this case was handled in open and closed doors has had a withstanding effect on Mr Rayney and his family.

To what extent was justice upheld throughout this case?

The level of justice upheld throughout the Lloyd Rayney case was close to none. This was shown through the principles of justice which weren’t applied, including factors such as trial by media, Lloyd was heavily defamed by officials who labelled him as his wife’s murderer as well as the media portraying him in a negative way. In addition to that, evidence corruption was a prominent issue in the case, leading to corruption of equality before the law. The unprofessional and unjust way the Lloyd Rayney case was held in the public eye had a long-lasting effect on Mr Rayney and his family.

Throughout the investigation Mr Rayney was heavily defamed in the media, as well as being manipulated into being portrayed as a selfish and ruthless man, which clearly reflected the negligence of the appliance of trial by media throughout this case. During a live news conference on the investigation of Corryn’s death Lloyd was labeled as the “prime and only suspect” by one of the lead investigators Jack Lee. This was an extremely non professional and detrimental statement from Jack as he did not uphold the innocent until proven guilty rule. By stating this publicly even though there were other possible suspects at the time, Mr Rayney and his family received a lot of negative backlash both online and in person from people he had never met just because of a false statement. To this day despite Lloyd winning his defamation case and having been awarded 2.7 million dollars the words of Jack Lee have continued to leave its scar. 1 in 10 Australians still blindly believing that Lloyd Rayney murdered his wife.

Evidence corruption played a huge role in the inequity of the Lloyd Rayney case which includes evidence which was placed. After retrieving Mrs Rayney’s body a mandatory medical search was conducted. The first time the medical examiner performed the search he found nothing which could be used as evidence. However, the next day he came back he noticed 3 golf-sized liquidambar pods in her hair. This was incredibly and strange and hard to grasp as he had followed the protocol and used a special technique to search through her hair in order to not miss a single spot. Another incident of unreliable evidence was a seapod found in the body bag of which Mrs Rayney’s body was transported from Kings Park to the examining centre. The seapod did not contain any DNA leading to kings park yet it was found in the body bag. This led to the judge during the second trial deeming this evidence as unreliable and removing that argument from prosecutors.

One of the largest mistakes in this case was that equality before the law was not upheld whatsoever. During the time of Corryn’s murder Alan Lacko, one of WA’s most violent sex offenders as well as charged drug trafficker Ivan Eadds had rented out a home just 3 blocks away from the Rayney property. They also happened to be present dealing drugs in the parking lot of Mrs Rayney’s bootscooting class, the night she went missing. Investigators also found a cigarette on the lawn of the Rayney property, its DNA matching none other then Ivan Eadds. Later that week they also found out that the clothing fibres found near the place where Corryn Rayney matched those of -lan Lacko and Ivan Eadds. Though there was plenty of suspicion to at least question the two already convicted criminals the police leading this investigation decided to ignore these possibly crucial pieces of evidence as they were so sure that Lloyd murdered his wife. Another example of the lack of equality before the law occurred when Mr Rayneny was travelling back home after dropping of his daughter at her friends house. He was stopped by police right in front of his workplace, the Supreme Court and handcuffed in the middle of a busy road for questioning. This was completely unfair and humiliating for Loyd as though he did not resist or attempt to attack any of the officers in any way shape or form he was being treated like a criminal, likely in front of many of his co-workers. Equality before the law was clearly not demonstrated as though Mr Rayney was no more suspicious he was treated like a convicted criminal while others who had real evidence leading to them weren’t even bothered to be questioned.

In conclusion I believe that the extent of which justice had not been upheld for Mr Rayney was unimaginable which left his reputation damaged and unforgettable scars that will never heal. I deeply empathise towards the hardships Mr Rayney and his family experienced. Though I will never be able to understand the pain of loosing a loved one and feeling like the whole world is against you I will use this experience to educate myself on how easily the media can manipulate something and the importance of conducting your own research before believing anything.

How could this case have been improved?

• If the media did not paint such a negative and false image of Lloyd Rayney, him and his family wouldn’t receive as much backlash and hate from untrue stories. For example, after being declared innocent Lloyd invited over people who had supported him throughout this difficult time however when the media came they placed a photo of him with the caption “free to party” completely manipulating the situation.
• If the WA police system didn’t have corrupt policemen/women participating in this investigation this would have prevented any unjust or unprofessional behaviours which could have hindered the investigation and swayed the possible outcome. For example, when the liquidambar pods had been placed in Corryn Rayney’s hair. As well as when the police didn’t question any other suspects despite possible evidence pointing to them.