Man who jury found not guilty of murdering woman in her bed could be retried under Queensland’s double-jeopardy laws

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Prosecutors want a man acquitted of stabbing a woman to death in her Brisbane home in the 1980s to be retried for her murder.

A jury found the man not guilty of murdering the woman at a previous trial, but he was arrested and charged with her murder again in July last year.

The state director of public prosecutions is seeking approval from the court of appeal to have the man tried for the murder again under Queensland’s double-jeopardy laws.

The woman was found dead in her bed wearing clothes similar to those she was wearing when she was last seen socialising with friends days earlier, the court was told on Tuesday.

She had been stabbed nine times in the chest and back, and was wrapped up in her bedding along with a pillow.

Her underwear, found on her bedroom floor, had been cut, and prosecutors believe there were signs she had been sexually assaulted, but no sign of forced entry into her unit.

The man previously tried for her murder told police at the time that he had gone to the woman’s home that night but left her alive and well.

The court will decide after the hearing, expected to run for two days, whether the DPP can proceed with the double-jeopardy prosecution.