Police to probe baby-snatch dingo shooting claim
An old man’s claim that he shot a wild dog that snatched a baby at Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback nearly a quarter of a century ago today revived an investigation into one of the country’s most enduring mysteries.
Two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from a campsite near the giant rock, also known by its Aboriginal name Uluru, in 1980.
The baby’s mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was convicted of murdering her infant but later released from prison and cleared of the crime after fresh evidence supported her claim that a wild dog known as a dingo took the child.
The mystery took a startling turn yesterday when a newspaper in Melbourne published claims by 87-year-old Frank Cole that he shot the dog with Azaria’s body still in its jaws while on a camping trip with three friends in August 1980.
Cole told the Sunday Herald Sun he did not tell police what he did, fearing he would be fined for shooting the dog.
He said one of his friends took Azaria’s body and never said what he did with it. All three of Cole’s friends from the camping trip have since died, he said. Cole said he believed one of the men could have buried the baby’s body in his Melbourne garden.
Police said today they would investigate the claims.
“I think that we now need to make some inquiries to determine whether or not it’s a valid statement or whatever it might be,” said Police Commissioner Christine Nixon.
“This is a matter that the whole of Australia has watched for many years and it seems to me that we need to just go and establish the fundamentals, whether or not there’s anything that we should be concerned about,” Nixon added.
Lindy Chamberlain, who served four years in prison after being convicted of murder in 1982 before being cleared of the killing, said through a spokeswoman she was aware of Cole’s claims and believed they were a matter for police.
While police plan to investigate, Cole’s claims have prompted scepticism.
Paul Everingham, who was political leader of the Northern Territory province where Azaria went missing, said: “I find it hard to believe, maybe it’s right but I’m not buying it, certainly not at this stage.”
He suggested the timing of the claim could have been linked to an Australian television network’s movie, which is being made about Azaria’s disappearance.
“I found it pretty amazing that someone would come forward at this late juncture, more or less coincidentally with the launch of a Channel Seven telemovie on Azaria,” Everingham said.
The story of Azaria’s disappearance was made into a 1988 Hollywood movie, A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill.
Everingham also cast doubt on Cole’s claim he feared prosecution for hunting near Ayer’s Rock.
“I just find it very hard to believe that someone would have felt it necessary to hide the fact that he was hunting around Ayers Rock, if indeed he was,” he said.
“And I would imagine that a gunshot in the vicinity of Ayers Rock would have had the rangers hurtling like a speeding bullet, if I could use a bad pun, towards the sound of the shot,” he added.
