Thirty years on, Australian coroner rules baby Azaria Chamberlain WAS taken by dingo

 
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Peter Dominiczak12 June 2012

An Australian woman accused of killing her daughter more than 30 years ago in a case that gripped the world was finally exonerated today after a coroner ruled that a dingo did take her baby.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, whose plight was immortalised in an Oscar-winning performance by Meryl Streep, was accused of murder after her nine-week-old baby Azaria disappeared from a campsite near Ayers Rock in 1982.

The baby’s body was never found despite intensive searches by police, Aboriginal trackers and park rangers, but her clothing was later found beside a dingo’s den at the base of the rock.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton served more than three years in prison for her daughter’s death, but was later cleared and has always maintained that a wild dog took her.

The case became famous across the world and was the subject of a hit 1988 film “A Cry in the Dark”.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton and her ex-husband Michael Chamberlain wept in the court in Darwin, Australia, as the coroner ruled that the baby was taken by one or more dingoes.

Speaking outside the court Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton said: “We’re relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga. No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and only attack if provoked. We live in a beautiful country, but it is dangerous and we would ask all Australians to beware of this and take appropriate precautions.”

Today’s dramatic ruling, during what was the fourth inquest into Azaria’s death, finally puts to rest the doubts that have existed over the case.

It came just one day after Azaria would have celebrated her 32nd birthday.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton, accused of slashing her daughter’s throat with nail scissors and making it look like a dingo attack, was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to life in prison with hard labour.

She was released in 1986 after investigators dramatically discovered a jacket belonging to Azaria beside the body of Englishman David Brett, who had fallen to his death while climbing Ayer’s Rock.

A third inquest in 1995 left the cause of death open.

Many Australians initially did not believe that a dingo could have been strong enough to carry away a baby.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton was spat at by members of the public and some even howled like dingoes outside her home.

No similar dingo attack had ever been documented at the time, but in recent years the wild dogs have been blamed for three fatal attacks on children.

Coroner Elizabeth Morris today said the cause of Azaria’s death was as the result of “her being attacked and taken by a dingo”.

The coroner fought back tears as she told the couple: “Please accept my sincere sympathy on the death of your special and loved daughter and sister.

“I am so sorry for your loss. Time does not remove the pain and sadness of the death of a child.”

Mr Chamberlain added: “This battle to get the legal truth about what caused Azaria’s death has taken too long. However I am here to tell you that you can get justice even when you think all is lost. But truth must be on your side.”

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