Mothers Who Murder Read Free Page B

reason for Lindy harming Azaria. The police talked to everyone at the campsite on the night Azaria went missing, as well as everyone who was with the Chamberlains on that fateful day or who stayed with them during the vigil that night as they waited for news of their daughter. They were all in agreement that the Chamberlains were a close, loving family, and that they reacted as would be expected of a family experiencing the trauma of having lost their daughter and sister under terrible circumstances. Lindy showed obvious signs of stress and was extremely emotional, but only after Azaria went missing. Prior to the child’s disappearance, Lindy’s mood was relaxed and she showed no signs of post-natal depression or psychosis.She also did not fit the profile of a woman suffering from these conditions, and none of the causal factors were there. Far from it. Lindy and Michael were very close – both to each other and all of the children. The family had close relationships with members of the church, so Lindy had a good support network, which included other mothers. She was not isolated and showed no signs, either at the campsite or previously before the family holiday, that would have alerted anyone to there being a psychological problem that could put either Azaria or Lindy in danger. Therefore, it would seem that post-natal depression or psychosis could not be a cause.
    However, Lindy’s response to being questioned seemed strange to the investigators, as she was feisty and defensive. What we should recognise about innocent people when they are questioned is that they often respond boldly, depending on their existing personality, as they fully believe the police will recognise their innocence. They are, as a result, more likely to waive their right to silence, thinking they don’t need it. They wonder why an innocent person would need a lawyer.
    So if Lindy did not fit the profile of mothers who murder their children for psychological reasons, does the story of a dingo taking the baby seem likely? First, let’s look at the eyewitness testimony in relation to the likelihood that a dingo took Azaria. A number of people reported seeing dingoes in the area around the time Azaria went missing. One of these was Michael Chamberlain, who fed a crust of bread to one of the wild dogs. Another was fellow camper Sally Lowe, who reported to police that dingoes had been loitering around the rubbish when she had been disposing of food scraps. Other witnesses, William (Bill) and JudithWest, testified that they had heard a dog’s low, throaty growl coming from the direction of the Chamberlains’ tent. Judith stated that it was a noise she associated with the sounds dogs make when they are slaughtering animals – familiar to her as she had heard her husband’s dogs killing sheep. Critically, Mrs West also testified that earlier she had shooed a dingo away from their twelve-year-old daughter, after it grabbed her by the arm and pulled. Mrs West also testified that during the evening of the 17th, she asked six-year-old Aidan if the dingo had taken Azaria and he said yes.
    Dog hairs were also found on Azaria’s clothing as well as inside the tent, although the Chamberlains had not owned a dog for a number of years. Add to this that there had been a number of (non-fatal) dingo attacks on children and adults in the park in the weeks immediately preceding Azaria’s disappearance, and that the chief ranger for the Ayers Rock area, Derek Roff, had written to the government, imploring them to sanction a dingo cull after a dingo had dragged three-year-old Amanda Cranwell from the family car and proceeded to make off with her, just weeks preceding Azaria’s attack and disappearance. Roff had been warning of an imminent human tragedy, due to the fact that the dingoes were becoming bolder, and were increasingly confident in approaching and sometimes even attacking people.
    THE ALTERNATIVE WHO: THE DINGO
    The dingo ( Canis lupus dingo ) is an