From: "Jerald Hellemeyer" <bippie-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Guilty 'til proven innocent in Australia
Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2000 17:42:14 CDT


>From the BBC on line.......

Saturday, 8 April, 2000, 11:56 GMT 12:56 UK

Mass DNA search for rapist

Hundreds of men have undergone DNA screening in a tiny Australian town in an 
attempt to find the man who raped a 91-year-old woman.


Teams of police in Wee Waa, in New South Wales, began knocking on the door 
of every household in town, 500km (310 miles) north of Sydney, early in the 
morning on Saturday.

Police decided on the mass screening programme, the first of its kind in 
Australia, after all leads failed in the hunt for a man who attacked and 
sexually assaulted the woman as she slept in the early hours of 1 January 
last year.

Civil liberties groups complained that the tests might be used for purposes 
other than the current investigation and that the police might infer that 
those who refused the test were guilty.

Fear in the community

The woman received serious head injuries in the attack and continues to 
suffer deep emotional trauma.




It's no big deal, just a quick scrape inside your cheeks, it's pain-free

Wee Waa resident Frank Williams
"There's a creature out there that's creating concern and fear in the 
community, particularly for elderly people," said police superintendent John 
Gillett.

Police tested more than 200 of Wee Waa's 600 men on Saturday, and will 
continue the process on Sunday.

"It's no big deal, just a quick scrape inside your cheeks, it's pain-free," 
said 52-year-old farmer Frank Williams.

"Most of the community here are very happy to assist police. I mean really, 
we're talking about the sexual assault of a 91-year-old woman," Mr Williams 
said.

Presumption of guilt

However, some in the town complained that the whole programme was a futile 
exercise as the rapist was a seasonal worker and not a local man.




The screening offers a frightening glimpse of a future police state

New South Wales Law Society
Civil liberties groups have expressed concern about the tests.

Michael Antrum, chairman of the regional Law Society's human rights 
committee, said the screening offered "a frightening glimpse of a future 
police state."

Wee Waa's solicitor, David Sweeney, said he would not undergo a test and 
knew of five other men opposed to the idea.

"There really is a presumption that anyone who happens to be living in the 
area of Wee Waa this weekend is a suspect and is presumed guilty until 
proven innocent," Mr Sweeney said.

"They have to establish their innocence by submitting to this test that is 
contrary to the principles that protect civil liberties that have evolved 
over more than 100 years in the common law system," he added.

As well as undergoing saliva tests Wee Waa's men were photographed and their 
fingerprints taken and put into a central police data base. Police said that 
the samples and data would be destroyed once a man has been eliminated as a 
suspect.


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