CSK?
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- Jan 24, 2016
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I am of the opinion they did use familial DNA, But here is the thing.... They won't be using the familial DNA in court, there won't be a risk of claiming it was unlawfully obtained, the familial DNA was simple a means for WAPOL to see if they were onto the right guy or not, the lawful DNA sample they took while BE was in custody is the sample that will be used in court.I believe that WAPOL had enough evidence to arrest BE without any DNA evidence. Familial DNA is very contentious and I haven't been able to find any Australian cases where a defendant was convicted on familial DNA. If you read the articles discussing familial DNA you will see that it is a controversial area with only a couple of states in the USA that have accepted it.
In Australia, the general principle is that DNA can only be taken if there is a reasonable suspicion of offending, or if a person volunteers their DNA. This is because Australia has an expectation of privacy and that the government can only take our personal information under certain circumstances. The ability to obtain familial DNA to then link a person to certain crimes encroaches on that privacy.
If a judge finds that the DNA was not lawfully obtained, then it could be excluded, as will all evidence obtained as a result of the DNA match. In my opinion it would be very risky for WAPOL to arrest someone based on familial DNA, because it is such a controversial area. It would be disastrous for everybody if BE was arrested and charged based on unlawfully obtained evidence and he is then acquitted because the evidence is excluded.
One day familial DNA will be tested in an Australian court and a judge will make a decision about whether it is admissible. I just think that running this argument on an accused serial killer is too big a risk.
All just my opinion.
The breakthrough was the Huntingdale attack, unless BE was the only suspect/poi or name associated with that case then it is absolutely likely they used familial DNA to determine which on the of names related to that case was the CSK. BRE was the only person arrested in relation to being the CSK so either they had DNA to direct them towards him or his name was the only name on file in respect to the Huntingdale attack case.