True Crime Davitt Award winner for 2011 - and a book I got a chance to chat to the author about briefly at SheKilda. Extremely worthwhile to read if for no other reason than to realise the importance of the High Court of Australia.
From the Blurb:
In 1994 Pamela Lawrence was brutally bashed to death in her jewellery shop in Perth. Fairly quickly, police suspicion fell on a young, psychologically fragile drifter named Andrew Mallard; he was ultimately charged and convicted of this murder. It took 13 years for this injustice to unravel.
Imagine sitting in a maximum security prison, wrongly convicted of murdering a woman you’ve never met.
This was the fate of Andrew Mallard. His incredible story is a battle for justice, truth and, ultimately, freedom.
In 1994 Pamela Lawrence was brutally bashed to death in her jewellery shop in Perth. Police suspicion fell on a young drifter named Andrew Mallard. Although innocent, he was charged and convicted of this murder.
It took 12 years and an epic struggle by Andrew’s mother and sister, a team of lawyers and West Australian journalist Colleen Egan to right this wrong.
Not only did their unrelenting battle for justice end with the High Court of Australia making a devastating judgment against the West Australian courts, it also led to cold-case investigators identifying the real murderer.
This is an emotional roller-coaster of a book, brilliantly and compellingly written. It is about justice, survival and what can happen when good people take on the system.