One of Australia’s oldest cold cases: why after 90 years a family is still waiting for justice | Tom Murray
Justice can sometimes be a long game. For the Wirrpanda family who live in the remote north-east Arnhem Land outstation of Dhuruputjpi, it is now 90 years and counting. This is the story of a police death, a famous miscarriage of justice and a likely murder.
The long-running saga resurfaced last month when the Northern Territory coroner released findings into the 1934 disappearance of Dhäkiyarr Wirrpanda, who was last seen in Darwin a day after the high court ruled to overturn his conviction for the 1933 murder of an NT police constable, Albert McColl, on Guwaŋarripa (Woodah Island) in Blue Mud Bay.
When the NT police force’s cold case taskforce began its investigation last year, Wirrpanda’s disappearance remained one of Australia’s oldest missing person cases. He was last seen alive on 10 November 1934.
One of Australia’s oldest cold cases: why after 90 years a family is still waiting for justice
Justice can sometimes be a long game. For the Wirrpanda family who live in the remote north-east Arnhem Land outstation of Dhuruputjpi, it is now 90 years and counting. This is the story of a police death, a famous miscarriage of justice and a likely murder.
The long-running saga resurfaced last month when the Northern Territory coroner released findings into the 1934 disappearance of Dhäkiyarr Wirrpanda, who was last seen in Darwin a day after the high court ruled to overturn his conviction for the 1933 murder of an NT police constable, Albert McColl, on Guwaŋarripa (Woodah Island) in Blue Mud Bay.
When the NT police force’s cold case taskforce began its investigation last year, Wirrpanda’s disappearance remained one of Australia’s oldest missing person cases. He was last seen alive on 10 November 1934.
