NSW: Cousins appeal over nurse murder conviction

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-1998
NSW: Cousins appeal over nurse murder conviction

By Margaret Scheikowski

SYDNEY, Dec 10 AAP - A man convicted of murdering a nurse who was almost beheaded suffered
"impermissible prejudice" by being put on trial with his cousin, a court was told today.

Malcolm Ramage, QC, for Vester Allan Fernando, said it would have been impossible for
jurors to put out of their minds videotaped police interviews with Brendon Fernando who said
he just went along with his cousin who was responsible for everything.

"The judge erred in rejecting an application for my client to be tried separately," Mr
Ramage told the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal.

The cousins are appealing their convictions and the life sentences imposed on them after a
jury found them guilty last year of murdering 21-year-old Sandra Hoare at Walgett in
north-western NSW, in December 1994.

Her body was found with her head almost severed and her underwear missing in a paddock near
Walgett hospital on December 9, 1994 - 12 hours after she was abducted after working alone in
the geriatric ward.

Vester Fernando, now 28, gave evidence at the trial he was in bed at the home of his sister
at the time of the crime, while Brendon Fernando, now 27, did not give evidence.

Mr Ramage said Brendon Fernando's recorded police interview and "runaround" (a video of him
showing police where various aspects of the crime happened) then became "a silent witness for
the prosecution".

While the videos were admissible evidence against Brendon Fernando, they could not be used
against his cousin.

But Mr Ramage said it would be impossible for jurors to compartmentalise the video contents
or weed out the admissible material.

In the runaround, police asked questions such as "show us where Vester threw the machete"
and "which tree was he under when he had sex with the girl".

"Each of the police questions assume the truth of what was previously said by (Brendon)
Fernando," Mr Ramage said.

He submitted that jurors were invited to see a "movie within the trial" but to ignore the
"actors and spoken word" in respect to parts of the movie.

"If this is not impermissible prejudice, what could be impermissible prejudice?" he asked
the three appeal judges.

Because the videotapes were not evidence against Vester Fernando, he had no way of
challenging their contents despite the impossibility of jurors ignoring the contents.

The hearing will continue tomorrow.

AAP mss/jd/kr

KEYWORD: FERNANDO NIGHTLEAD

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.