A Cry in the Dark Page #9

too far away to hear.

What's so important

about this matinee jacket?

It explains the lack of saliva

on the jump suit, Mary.

You're missing the point. If he can prove

she's lying about the matinee jacket,

she could be lying about the rest.

If she's lying, she's guilty.

There's none on the jump suit,

so she's saying that the jacket

is missing cos it had the saliva on it.

You told us yesterday, Mrs Chamberlain,

that when you saw

the dingo shaking its head,

it was halfway through the fly screen.

It was on the move, through the fly screen.

Do you know there was no blood

found on the fly screen?

I presume there hasn't been

cos it hasn't been mentioned.

Do you say this dog had its head

half through the fly screen,

shaking a bleeding baby?

As I said again and again yesterday,

it was emerging through the fly screen.

Shaking its head vigorously?

I couldn't tell you now

whether it was shaking its head

as it was going through

or before it was through.

Its obvious movement was shaking

the fly screen at some stage.

It was a matter of from the time I first saw

it to when it was in the back of the tent.

It was a matter of a few seconds.

Very, very fast.

And moving.

What it had in its mouth, we now know,

according to you, was a bleeding baby?

Well, that's my opinion.

Pardon?

That is my opinion.

- Is there any doubt about it?

- Not in my mind.

Is it merely your opinion

or something you know is a fact?

Something my heart tells me is a fact.

Other people don't think so.

- Did the clean fly screen surprise you?

- No. There was some on the pole.

It doesn't really surprise me

that there was none there.

It would depend on the angle of the animal

or which angle the wounds were.

Mrs Chamberlain, you say this child

was in the mouth of a dingo

which was vigorously shaking its head

at the entrance to the tent.

That is what you firmly believe.

Is that right?

That's right.

The dog having taken Azeria

from the bassinet.

- Azaria.

- Take it steady, Mrs Chamberlain.

You saw blood on the parka?

Yes.

- Would you like a spell?

- I'd prefer to go on with it, Your Honour.

I don't want you to answer when you feel

distressed. Would you like a break?

I'd prefer to go on. It's been going on for

two years and I'd like to get it over with.

You say the blood on the parka

must have come from the baby.

Yes.

When it was in the dog's mouth?

Somewhere around that time.

- What other time could it have come...

- Look, Mr Barker, I wasn't there.

I can only go on

the evidence of my own eyes.

We're talking about my baby daughter.

Not some object!

I know it's difficult,

but you must hold your temper.

- You sound too harsh, too angry.

- I am angry.

It's not going over well with the jury.

Try and be more demure.

I am the way I am

and the jury will have to get used to it.

Mrs Chamberlain, when this case is over,

I will get the hell out of here.

You could stay here for

a f***ing long time.

- Don't talk to my wife like that.

- I'm told ''Don't talk like you usually talk''.

''Watch how you hold your mouth,

you look too sour.''

''Don't get angry.

Don't ask too many questions.''

''And never laugh

or you're an uncaring b*tch.''

I can't cry to order and I won't be

squashed into a dumb act for the public.

Or for you.

Is it not the case that your husband

declined to search on that Sunday night

because he knew the baby was dead?

- And he knew you had killed her.

- Definitely not.

You invented the story of the dingo

removing the baby from the tent.

I did not invent that story, Mr Barker.

It's the truth.

The prosecutor put many questions to Mrs

Chamberlain when she was in the stand.

But there was one allegation, a most

important allegation, that was never put.

It was the allegation

that would have started with the words:

''Mrs Chamberlain, the reason

you cut your child's throat was...''

The most important allegation.

And it was never put.

It was never put because Mr Barker,

one of the best men in the business,

just cannot think of any reason

why she would do it.

No doubt the ordinary crocodile would

have gone out of its way to eat this baby.

But our experience as Australians tells us

the dingo does not bear such a reputation.

Now, what is this dingo

supposed to have done?

It managed, if her story is true,

to kill the baby in the bassinet,

drag it from the basket, shake her head

vigorously at the entrance to the tent,

then carry her off in such a way

that left virtually no clues in the tent

in the way of blood or hairs

or anything else.

It left no blood or drag marks

at the entrance to the tent.

It was able to pass by

the child's mother, in full view,

without disclosing or revealing

it was carrying a baby.

It managed to kill the child,

with the jump suit all buttoned up.

If you accept Professor Cameron, it buried

the body, having undone one top button.

So, all in all, ladies and gentlemen,

it was not only a dextrous dingo,

it was a very tidy dingo.

There is some common ground between

Mr Phillips and the prosecution.

That is that this is

a case of simple alternatives.

Either a dingo killed that child

or she was murdered.

A dingo or murder.

Mr Barker shifted the onus of proof

from the prosecution to the defence

by shifting the emphasis from the almost

incomprehensible forensic evidence,

claiming it was a case

of simple alternatives.

He also claimed the matinee jacket

was a fabrication by Lindy Chamberlain.

Mate, that Barker bloke's

as cunning as a shithouse rat.

Beauty, eh?

2:
1 against for a hung jury.

Shh!

If ever there was a time when dingoes

were a problem at Ayers Rock,

it was in August 1980.

I ask you, and you'll bear this in mind,

if your wife had murdered

your child in that car,

what would you have done

over the ensuing months?

Would you still have the car?

Would it have been thoroughly scrubbed?

Would the scissors still be left

in the car? Matters such as that.

If Mrs Lowe heard that cry,

you may think the only inference you can

draw is that it was Azaria's last cry.

That Azaria was still living.

She was not and could not

have been lying dead in the car.

I don't like the way the jury went out.

They wouldn't look at me.

- The judge summed up in our favour.

- He almost instructed for an acquittal.

We're home and hosed, mate.

Do you believe a dingo

would take a baby? Yes or no?

- No.

- What did Mr Harris say about it?

Anyone for a cup of tea?

- Can we sort out the blood thing first?

- Forget it. None of us understands it.

The best thing for us is

if she's found guilty!

You're a bastard, Mark!

Why are they taking so long?

Michael.

If I go in...

..I think

we should get a divorce.

Nonsense.

I won't dignify that by discussing it.

- You couldn't handle things on your own.

- Rubbish.

Mr Foreman,

if you'll be good enough to stand.

Mr Foreman,

ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

are you unanimously agreed

upon your verdict?

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