The applicant was convicted of murdering his wife in 2003. Because her body has never been found, when the applicant applied for parole, the Parole Board of Queensland was obliged to consider whether the applicant had “satisfactorily cooperated” with the investigation into her death. That obligation arose as a consequence of the “no body, no parole” amendments introduced into the Corrective Services Act 2006 (Qld), following the review into parole undertaken by Walter Sofronoff QC (as the President then was).
The Parole Board decided that it could not be satisfied that the applicant had satisfactorily cooperated with the investigation into his wife’s death because it could not be satisfied about the applicant’s credibility (including because he had given different versions of events about the location of his wife’s remains).
The applicant sought judicial review of the Parole Board’s decision. Justice Davis set it aside.
Nicholas Andreatidis QC and Matthew Hickey OAM appeared for the Board.
The judgment can be read by clicking here