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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Bank Robbery (incld. Armed) |
Sentence: |
7 years and 5 months |
Years Imprisoned: |
4.5 |
Year Crime: |
1993 |
Year Convicted: |
1993 |
Year Cleared: |
1998 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Australia |
County or Region of Crime: |
Queensland |
City of Crime: |
Cairns |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Terry Irving was wrongly convicted on December 8, 1993 of the armed robbery of AUS$6,230 from the ANZ Bank in Portsmith, Cairns in March 1993. Irving's car was identified as the getaway vehicle. His defense was that he had loaned his car to an acquaintance at a pub he frequented, and that while it was in that person's possession it was used in the robbery. Irving did not match the description of the culprit provided by witnesses, including two staff at the neighboring post office who saw the lone robber undisguised. However, he was convicted based on his identification by three bank tellers. Irving was sentenced to 7 years and 5 months in prison. His conviction was quashed by Australia's High Court on December 8, 1997, and he was released on bail three days later on December 11, 1997. "The Court accepted the Crown’s concession at the hearing that the author’s original trial had been unfair. The Court observed that it had “the gravest misgivings about the circumstances of this case”, that “it is a very disturbing situation” and that “in all of this, the accused has been denied legal aid for his appeal” ('Mr. Terry Irving v. Australia, Communication No. 880/1999, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/74/D/880/1999 (2002)). Charges dropped in October 1998 after prosecution declined to retry Irving. Terry Irving filed claim for compensation in July 1998 and multiple times thereafter. On December 21, 2009 Queensland's attorney-general denied Irving's claim for an ex-gratia payment, which only left the option for Irving to sue for compensation. Irving filed a lawsuit against Queensland's government, and on August 29, 2011 the Supreme Court in Brisbane authorized Terry to proceed with his lawsuit for his more than 4-1-2 years of wrongful imprisonment from the time of his arrest. The Court found that Terry's case was a miscarriage of justice - a view supported by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in a 2002 report." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Erroneous identification by three bank tellers that he robbed their bank. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"Conviction quashed by Austrailia's High Court and released on bail on December 11, 1997. The charges were dropped in October 1998 after the prosecution declined to retry Irving." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
38 |
Age When Released: |
43 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Mr. Terry Irving v. Australia, Communication No. 880/1999, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/74/D/880/1999 (2002)." |
Information Location 1: |
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/undocs/880-1999.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Man to sue Government over wrongful conviction, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), August 30, 2011" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-30/man-to-sue-government-over-wrongful-conviction/2862112 |
Information Source 3: |
"Wrongly accused robber told to sue for compo, By Lendl Ryan (staff), Townsville Bulletin, December 22, 2009" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2009/12/22/102535_news.html |
Information Source 4: |
"Terry Irving v. Australia, Communication No. 880/1999, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/74/D/880/1999 (2002), April 1, 2002" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/undocs/880-1999.html |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org