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Corryn Veronica Ann Rayney, née Da Silva, (born 1963) migrated to Australia with her Indian family in 1973 as refugees from Idi Amin's Uganda. Her death occurred on or about 7 August 2007, her body being discovered a week later in a clandestine grave in Kings Park, Perth, with no clearly established cause of death. Her husband Lloyd Rayney, a prominent barrister specialising in criminal prosecution, was charged with her murder but found not guilty after a trial before a judge only. The acquittal was unanimously upheld by a court of appeal in August 2013. The state's police commissioner and attorney general declined to acknowledge documented procedural mistakes, and refused to instigate a fresh search for the killers, leading to calls for a federal investigation into the matter. The Rayneys had two daughters and resided in the Perth suburb of Como. At the time, Lloyd Rayney was involved in a Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry into the misconduct of police officers in a murder investigation.〔 Corryn Rayney was employed as a registrar at the Supreme Court of Western Australia. She was last seen alive at 9.30 p.m. on 7 August 2007 at a bootscooting class.〔 A week later, police discovered her abandoned car and followed a trail of oil from it to the grave in Kings Park. ==Investigation and trial== Although Lloyd Rayney was controversially described by the chief police investigator Senior Sergeant Jack Lee as the "only suspect" at a police press conference in September 2007, he was not charged with the murder until December 2010, more than three years after the event. An affidavit filed by the prosecutors indicated that the case was circumstantial. The prosecutor's opening address to the trial said that the state's case was circumstantial but the evidence of motive was compelling. At the request of the defendant in October 2011,〔 the trial was heard by a judge only, with no jury. The reasons for the application were suppressed at the time, but later published in March 2012.〔 Lloyd Rayney wanted a trial without a jury, because he claimed that the extensive publicity would make a fair jury trial impossible to achieve. The decision to conduct the trial without a jury was a subject of debate in Australian legal circles. Former Northern Territory Chief Justice Brian Ross Martin was appointed as an Acting Justice of the Western Australia Supreme Court in February 2012 to preside over the trial; a judge from outside Western Australia was used to ensure impartiality, given that both the victim and accused had held senior legal positions. The trial began on 16 July 2012,〔(The State of Western Australia v Rayney ) Full judgment, 369pp., 1 November 2012〕 and ran until 19 October 2012 when final submissions were presented by prosecutor John Agius SC, QC 〔(Members of (Sir Lawrence Jackson) Chambers, Perth ). Retrieved 2012-10-20〕 and defence counsel David Edwardson QC.〔(David Edwardson QC ) at Bar Chambers, Adelaide〕 On 1 November, Justice Martin acquitted Lloyd Rayney when he handed down a judgment of "not guilty", saying that the "case by the State is beset by improbabilities and uncertainties".〔 The full reasons for the verdict were published, a requirement which would not have applied to a jury verdict. The trial judge closely examined evidence on the conduct of Lloyd Rayney and reportedly described him as a barrister who had engaged in "disreputable conduct" by lying to a magistrate, swearing a false affidavit and arranging a phone tap, and "was prepared to engage in an unlawful activity which was the antithesis of the ethical conduct expected of a legal practitioner".〔Colleen Egan (Pressure to find Rayney answers ) ''The West Australian'', 18 November 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-25〕 Those comments were redacted from the final official judgment "(1594),〔 and Justice Martin's Judgment Summary noted that "The accused has engaged in discreditable conduct including knowingly arranging for illegal telephone interception, making a false declaration and giving deliberately false evidence to a court while on oath. The evidence raises suspicion; in some instances quite strong suspicion. But discreditable conduct does not prove guilt, and suspicion, even strong suspicion, falls well short of proof beyond reasonable doubt."〔http://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Judgment_Summary_Rayney.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Death of Corryn Rayney」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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