Wayne Butler

Case Overview

Wayne Butler was convicted of murdering Celia Natasha “Tasha” Douty, who was a British resort worker. Douty was murdered on Brampton Island in Queensland, Australia.

The murder remained unsolved until 2001, when Butler was found guilty. It was the first murder in Australia to be solved using DNA profiling. The prosecution relied heavily on DNA evidence, which became a case study for the use of the technique in court.

Victim

Celia Natasha “Tasha” Douty (11 February 1943 – 1 September 1983) was murdered on Brampton Island in Queensland, Australia. At the time, she worked as a waitress at the resort on Brampton Island.

Douty was found in scrub behind the beach, with her body covered with a red towel. She had been beaten on the head with a stone. Her clothes and personal possessions, including a handbag, were missing and were never found.

Timeline

• 1 September 1983 — Douty took the ferry to Mackay for a dental appointment and spent the night there.
• 2 September 1983 — Police began searching for Douty when she failed to show up for work on 2 September; her body was discovered in scrub behind the beach, covered with the red towel.
• 1988 — Butler was arrested for Douty’s murder but was released because of insufficient evidence.
• 1997 — Butler’s semen DNA profile was linked to semen stains on the red towel; Butler was arrested for Douty’s murder.
• 2001 — Butler was tried for the murder; he was found guilty, and Supreme Court Judge Justice John Helman jailed him for life without the possibility of release on parole.
• 31 July 2001 — Butler unsuccessfully appealed his conviction.
• 14 September 2001 — The Court of Appeal heard and delivered judgment dismissing the appeal (R v Butler [2001] QCA 385).
• 2005 — Butler lodged a plea for pardon with Governor of Queensland Quentin Bryce, based on new evidence.
• early 2007 — A hearing for the second appeal was due.
• 2009 — The Court of Appeal heard the second appeal and dismissed it.
• February 13, 2001 — Butler was sentenced to life in prison.
• February 2014 — A parole date for Butler was stated by his sister.

The offence

In the summer of 1983, Douty worked at a resort on Brampton Island. On 31 August, she took the ferry to the nearby town of Mackay for a dental appointment and spent the night there.

The following day, she travelled back to the island. It was known that Douty went straight from the ferry to her room to drop off things she had bought, including presents for her younger son’s upcoming 18th birthday. Taking the new red towel she had just purchased, she headed to secluded Dinghy Bay.

Butler had been following her but lost her at that time. It was estimated that she reached the beach at about 10.40, but when the 11 o’clock plane flew in, she was no longer on the beach.

Her body was found in scrub behind the beach, covered with the red towel. The red towel had blood and semen on it. The semen stains were located in six different places on the towel. Police found extensive head injuries inflicted by an implement, and the victim had been beaten on the head with a stone. Douty’s clothes and personal possessions, including a handbag, were missing and were never found.

Witnesses on the ferry back from Brampton Island on 1 September reported overhearing an argument between a couple. A woman complained that she had been left alone for several hours on the island, and the man was heard to say that he did not realise the island was so large. Police were unable to identify the couple in question.

Investigation

There were no witnesses to the crime and no confession was forthcoming. Police interviewed more than 300 guests and visitors on the private island.

The Queensland government offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to a conviction, but no one came forward to claim it.

A breakthrough came when a man told Queensland police: “I think I know that man who was having an argument with his wife on the Brampton Island ferry when that woman was murdered. He's my brother Wayne and he lives in Sydney”.

Butler was originally arrested in 1988 for Douty’s murder but was released because of insufficient evidence.

Arrest and DNA evidence

In 1988, Butler was arrested for Douty’s murder but was released due to insufficient evidence.

Butler’s wife divorced him. In October 1997, she went to a police station in Sydney and told officers: “My ex-husband has committed a murder. He killed a girl on a beach in Queensland. I couldn't say anything while we were married. Now we're divorced and I want you to know the truth”.

Butler had long been a suspect. It was not until DNA testing techniques were advanced enough to establish the probability that the semen stain on the towel was his that he was charged.

A DNA test of Butler’s blood sample on 6 February yielded a result, and a DNA test on a section of the towel impregnated with semen, done on 13 February, yielded a matching result.

At the time, Butler’s defence argued that the DNA evidence was unreliable because of contamination and because so much time had passed. The defence also claimed Butler had not been present at Douty’s death and had never met her.

Trial

Butler was tried for the murder in 2001.

His former wife, Vija Samite Duffey, told the court that on the day of Douty’s murder, Butler had been away for four hours. She said that this was not unusual and his behaviour was not different on his return.

DNA evidence was presented confirming that semen stains on the red towel covering Douty’s body came from Butler. One account described the chances of another person having the same profile as 1 in 23 × 1015. Another account cited a one-in-43-trillion chance of the tested DNA being that of someone other than Butler.

Dr Kary Mullis, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on DNA replication, advised the defence throughout the trial but was not called to testify.

The defence suggested that the DNA evidence had been contaminated in the laboratory. The prosecution rebutted that claim, after demonstrating it was not possible. Butler was not called to give evidence.

Butler was found guilty by the jury after only 90 minutes of discussion.

Supreme Court Judge Justice John Helman sentenced Butler to life without the possibility of release on parole, saying:

“For this savage crime you will spend the rest of your days in captivity. Parole will always be out of the question.”

Sentencing

Butler was sentenced to life in prison on February 13, 2001.

The sentencing decision included a life term without the possibility of release on parole.

Appeals

First appeal

On 31 July 2001, Butler unsuccessfully appealed his conviction.

His appeal was based on the grounds that the original verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory, and that the judge failed to uphold the submission that there was no case to answer.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. Justice Pat Keane did not regard Professor Barry Boettcher’s views as apt to cast doubt on the integrity or competence of John Tonge Centre staff. The Court of Appeal stated:

“There has never been any suggestion that the semen found on the red towel might reasonably be thought not to be that of the killer. I am satisfied there is no reasonable doubt Mr Butler's semen was on the red towel”

The Court of Appeal included reasoning that the jury had been entitled to accept the evidence of Mr Freney and Dr Budowle and that degradation or contamination arguments were not sufficient to cast doubt on the reliability of the DNA evidence.

In the Court of Appeal judgment, the court described the appeal’s grounds:

• The verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory.
• The trial judge erred in failing to uphold the submission that there was no case to answer.

The Court of Appeal judgment explained:

• The murder occurred when Douty was apparently sunbaking on a beach at Brampton Island.
• Her body was discovered in undergrowth at Dinghy Bay, unclothed but covered with a red towel.
• She had suffered extensive head injuries.
• Butler had visited the island on a day trip from Mackay with his wife on the day on which Douty was probably murdered.
• He left his wife for about four hours, telling her he was going jogging or walking around the beach and around the island.
• When he returned, he showed no signs of distress and there were no readily apparent marks or blood stains on him or on his clothing.
• The red towel had both blood stains and semen stains, with semen stains located in six different places.
• The sole evidence supporting the conviction, apart from opportunity, was DNA evidence that it was Butler’s semen found on the red towel.
• Butler did not give evidence.
• DNA tests were done in February 1997, including a test of Butler’s blood sample on 6 February and a test on the towel sample on 13 February.

The Court of Appeal decision also described defence submissions about contamination, including that the risk would have been contamination by mixing of samples, and that possible contamination before the relevant dates could have made semen DNA appear to match Butler. It further discussed expert testimony about why contamination was not a plausible explanation.

The Court of Appeal also addressed the ABO test performed in 1983, describing its limitations and why the jury was justified in rejecting it as casting doubt on the reliability of the DNA tests.

Second appeal and pardon application

Butler was given a second chance to appeal in 2005, lodging a plea for pardon with Governor of Queensland Quentin Bryce.

The application was based on new evidence by forensic scientist and blood group specialist Professor Barry Boettcher, who said:

“I can't say Wayne Butler is innocent. All I can say is that the laboratory results are wrong.”

A hearing for the second appeal was due in early 2007, and the appeal was eventually heard by the Court of Appeal in 2009. Justice Pat Keane dismissed the views as not casting doubt on the integrity or competence of John Tonge Centre staff, and included the same statement about being satisfied there was no reasonable doubt that Butler’s semen was on the red towel.

In one account of the dismissal, the Court of Appeal also stated:

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Butler's DNA was on the red towel found covering the body of the deceased when it was found ... therefore I conclude on the whole of the evidence that Mr Butler was rightly convicted of having murder red the deceased,”

Outcome

Butler’s conviction for the murder of Celia Natasha “Tasha” Douty was upheld after appeals, and he remained sentenced to life in prison.

Aftermath and prison-related information

Butler’s sister, Alison Welfare, said he had suffered much in prison. She said a fellow inmate attacked her brother in 2004, leaving him with a brain injury. She also stated that he had finished a Bachelor of Commerce behind bars and was working on his masters.

She stated:

“If he committed murder, then he is exactly where he deserves to be. But if not, whatever sins he may have committed in the past, well, he has paid for them very dearly.”

She also said that Butler’s parole was due in February 2014 and that he had always said he was innocent:

“Wayne has always said he is innocent - he has never admitted killing that lady and therefore he is seen as never having made any reparation or been able to be rehabilitated,”

Professor Barry Boettcher visited Butler in jail to discuss his plea for a pardon and said:

“Prison is taking its toll on him,” and “I find this very distressing that this man has spent the last 11 years in prison - for murder, our most heinous crime - and he never should have been there.”