Lindy awaits latest Azaria inquest ruling

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton is expected to fly to Darwin for a court decision which may rule that her baby daughter Azaria died from a dingo attack in 1980.

Northern Territory coroner, Elizabeth Morris, is tomorrow scheduled to deliver her findings on the fourth inquest on the child, which was held this year.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, who was originally jailed over the death before being released three years later, will be in Darwin for the inquest findings, a spokeswoman for her agent confirmed on Friday.

The latest inquest heard that several children had been attacked by dingoes since nine-week-old Azaria disappeared from Uluru in 1980.

If the inquest finds that a dingo most likely killed the child, Azaria’s death certificate could be officially changed from “unknown”.

Both the counsel assisting the coroner and the Chamberlains’ lawyer told the inquest in February that they now believed a dingo was the most likely cause of Azaria’s death.

University of Melbourne legal expert David Studdert said he thought the coroner would probably back that theory.

“The fact that there are two sides to the inquest asking for the same thing makes it more likely,” Professor Studdert said.

“That was the very reason to re-open the inquest in the first place.”

But Professor Studdert said it was no certainty, because the coroner’s findings might be different.

However, Ms Morris’ findings could be the final chapter in what has been one of Australia’s most enduring sagas since baby Azaria disappeared.

Court hearings in the 1980s ruled Azaria’s mother Lindy Chamberlain, as she was then known, be jailed for murder and her then husband Michael Chamberlain given a suspended sentence after being found guilty of being an accessory after the fact.

After Azaria’s matinee jacket was found in 1986 the case was reopened and a royal commission in 1987 exonerated both parents.

In 1988 the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal overturned all convictions against the Chamberlains.

Despite their exoneration, an inquest on Azaria in 1995 delivered an open verdict.

Since that decision, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Michael Chamberlain have been fighting to have Azaria’s death certificate changed.

AAP

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