Publicity created unfair trial, hostel appeal told

Sensational publicity about a man arrested and charged over a hostel fire in Australia that killed 15 young backpackers - including Limerick woman Julie O'Keeffe - created “universal revulsion” and poisoned any chance he had of a fair trial, his lawyer told an appeal court Tuesday.

Terry Martin, representing Robert Paul Long, told Queensland’s Court of Appeal that there were a number of grounds for the appeal against Long’s murder and arson convictions and life sentence, highlighting that media coverage of the case caused “a substantial risk of prejudice” and led to a miscarriage of justice.

“The publicity was virtually conclusive of guilt around the time of the fire,” said Mr Martin, who also represented Long at his trial in February and March. “That is when the public has the greatest interest.”

Long did not attend the appeal, which was expected to last two days. It was not immediately clear when the three judges hearing the appeal would issue their decision.

Some relatives of those killed in the fire and who attended a weekend memorial in the dead backpackers’ honour attended the proceedings in a small fifth-floor courtroom in Brisbane, but did not immediately make any comment.

Mr Martin also said that incorrect information about Long’s criminal record given out by police in the days before his arrest also led to the defendant receiving an unfair trial.

“As a result a juror could not have put this out of their minds so as to give a fair verdict,” he said.

Long denied starting the fire at the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers, a small farming community 190 miles north of the Queensland state capital of Brisbane, and to the murders of Australian twins Kelly and Stacey Slarke, who perished in the blaze.

He was convicted on March 15 by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury in the murders following the blaze that engulfed the hostel on June 23, 2000. The fire also killed two backpackers from the Netherlands, another Australian and one person each from Ireland, South Korea and Japan.

Prosecutors charged Long with only two murders to speed his trial.

Along with the life sentence for murder, Long was given 15 years for arson. He could be considered for parole after serving 20 years.

Long’s lawyers also claimed that Supreme Court Judge Peter Dutney was wrong in allowing the jury to hear evidence of an alleged confession by Long, as well as suicide notes he wrote and his threats to burn down the hostel.

Police caught Long close to Childers five days after the blaze following an intense manhunt. Detectives told the trial he confessed after they shot him in the arm as he resisted arrest.

Thinking he had been fatally wounded, Long told police: ”I’m dying anyway. I started that fire.”

Long’s appeal follows another lodged by the Queensland state government against the sentence, which state Attorney-General Rod Welford called “manifestly inadequate”.