Tom Molomby

On May 7, 1921, Hannah Jane Peden was found dead in her home near Gundagai with her throat cut from ear to ear by a razor. Police wasted little time on fixing the blame on her husband Arthur, despite evidence that Hannah Jane had been severely depressed and suicidal. Peden was duly convicted, but serious reservations about the case had already been aired, and a Royal Commission was eventually convened, and found enough doubt about Peden's guilt for him to pardoned and released. Molomby has written a wonderful book about this seemingly insignificant and long-forgotten case, which nevertheless raised important issues with Australian jurisprudence. Molomby's legal training and expertise come through strongly as he meticulously details how this almost-miscarriage of justice occurred. Those who have an interest in legal matters or those who simply love a good crime mystery will find this book compelling reading.… (altro)

On the morning of September 5,1936, Henry Lavers, the owner of a roadside service station near Grenfell in New South Wales, got up and went out to feed his horses. He was never seen again. When his wife went to look for him, she found bloodstains on one of the petrol bowsers. Thus started a murder enquiry that ran for 11 years, until an itinerant shearer named Fred McDermott was convicted on largely circumstantial evidence, with Lavers' body having never been found (It was finally discovered in 2004). McDermott was sentenced to death, but luckily for him NSW had carried out its last execution a decade earlier and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. McDermott kept protesting his innocence, until he was able to convince enough influential people on the outside that a serious miscarriage of justice had occurred. A Royal Commission was eventually ordered, and it duly discovered that indeed there had been a miscarriage and McDermott was freed., although it wasnt until 2012, long after his death, that his conviction was finally quashed. Molomby has written an excellent book about this important case in Australian jurisprudence, meticulously detailing all the evidence, all the twists and turns and official bungling that led to McDermott's wrongful conviction and his eventual vindication. Its an exciting and gripping story, but thought-provoking too, as it shows just how easy it is for the system to fail and for horrible perversions of justice to happen.… (altro)