Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton
Chamberlain in a 1986 news broadcast
Born
Alice Lynne Murchison

(1948-03-04) 4 March 1948 (age 76)
Whakatāne, New Zealand
Known forImprisoned for three years after being convicted of the murder of her 9-week-old daughter, Azaria (later exonerated)
Spouses
(m. 1969; div. 1991)
Rick Creighton
(m. 1992)
ChildrenAidan (born 1973)
Reagan (born 1976)
Azaria (June–August 1980)
Kahlia (born 1982)

Alice Lynne "Lindy" Chamberlain-Creighton (née Murchison; born 4 March 1948) is a New Zealand–born Australian woman who was convicted in one of Australia's most publicised murder trials. Accused of killing her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru in 1980, she maintained that she saw a dingo leave the tent where Azaria was sleeping. The prosecution case was circumstantial and depended on forensic evidence.

Chamberlain was convicted on 29 October 1982,[1] and her appeals to the Federal Court of Australia,[2] and High Court of Australia,[3] were dismissed. On 7 February 1986, after the discovery of new evidence — clothing the same as Azaria wore — Chamberlain was released from prison on remission. She and her husband Michael Chamberlain, co-accused, were officially pardoned in 1987,[1] and their convictions were quashed by the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 1988.[4] In 1992, the Australian government paid Chamberlain $1.3 million in compensation.[5] In 2012, a fourth coroner's inquest found that Azaria died "as a result of being attacked and taken by a dingo".[1]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference nswLIAC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Chamberlain v The Queen [1983] FCA 78, (1983) 72 FLR 1; (1983) 46 ALR 493.
  3. ^ Chamberlain v The Queen (No.2) [1984] HCA 7, (1984) 153 CLR 521.
  4. ^ Re Conviction of Chamberlain [1988] NTCCA 3, (1988) 93 FLR 239.
  5. ^ Linder, Doug, Professor, The Trial of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain: A Chronology, University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, 1995–2011.