Hostel fire confession 'not made under duress'
A court hearing an appeal by a man serving a life sentence for starting a fire that killed 15 young backpackers, including one Irish girl, in eastern Australia was today told that his confession was not made under duress.
Robert Paul Long, 39, was found guilty in March of murder and arson for a blaze that engulfed a hostel in Childers, a small farming community in the state of Queensland, in June 2000. Along with the Irish girl, seven Britons, three from Australia, two from the Netherlands and one each from South Korea and Japan perished in the flames.
Long’s lawyer argued before Queensland’s Court of Appeal yesterday that his client had felt threatened when he confessed to police after being captured. The drifter, who was shot while resisting arrest, apparently confessed because he thought he was fatally wounded, detectives said during his trial.
Prosecutor David Meredith today dismissed claims of coercion, saying that the confession was valid even though Long made it while being held by police with a guard dog.
“There is no way there was any action that would have induced his statement,” said Mr Meredith. “The confession was valid.”
Long, an itinerant fruit picker, is serving a life sentence for murder and a concurrent 15-year prison term for arson. He could be considered for parole after 20 years.
Police caught Long close to Childers five days after the fire following an intense manhunt. Shot in the arm while being apprehended, he was quoted during the trial as telling his captors: “I’m dying anyway. I started that fire.”
Long’s lawyer, Terry Martin, said yesterday that the confession was “induced by unlawful and threatening conduct on the part of police”.
During the appeals hearing, Mr Martin also challenged the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence and argued that his client had not received a fair trial because police had given out incorrect information about his criminal record in the days before his arrest.
Mr Meredith countered today that the evidence placing Long at the scene of the fire was strong.
“We have positive sightings of a bearded man aged 30 to 40 in the hostel one-half hour before the fire and immediately leaving the scene when the fire began,” he said. “How many bearded people in a small town like Childers can there be leaving the hostel at 12.30 at night?”
The prosecutor also said there was “very minimal risk” that a juror could have been influenced by reading the incorrect material about Long’s criminal record on the Internet.
“The jurors are asked whether they might be prejudiced when they are chosen. We have to assume the jurors are being honest.”
Justice Margaret McMurdo, president of the Court of Appeal and presiding judge at the appeal in Brisbane, suggested that Australia’s media regulatory agencies should investigate news reports leading up to Long’s trial, which Mr Martin said destroyed Long’s chance of getting a fair hearing.
“I’m not suggesting any control over the freedom of the press,” said the judge. “I’m just suggesting responsible reporting that would give a person a right to a fair trial.”
As the hearing closed, Mr Meredith appealed for a harsher sentence for Long.
He said that although only two murder convictions were recorded against Long, 13 others also died in the blaze.
“It was a heinous crime,” said Mr Meredith. “He knew when he lit that fire that there were not two people in that building, but 85 or more. The sentence has to reflect that.”
The three-judge panel retired to consider the appeal and did not say when they would issue a ruling.
