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[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]
Underlining where it occurs is for editorial emphasis

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28 August 2007 - Charles Gent - Dr Hilton Kobus moving from Forensic Science SA to new Professorial role at Flinders University.

This document was published on the Flinders University website and in the Flinders Journal vol 18 no 10 August 27 - September 9. It said that the State Government’s senior forensic scientist, Dr Hilton Kobus, will come to Flinders University in October to begin work on the development of a leading national centre in forensic science at the University. Dr Kobus, who retires as Director of Forensic Science SA at the end of August, has been appointed to Flinders at professorial level in the School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences (SOCPES). The Head of SOCPES, Professor Warren Lawrance, said the Forensic Science SA and the University have a long and close association. Dr Kobus and other staff from Forensic Science SA have been involved in teaching elements of the Bachelor of Technology in Forensic and Analytical

Chemistry course since its inception in 1997, and Forensic Science SA has also acted as a source of research projects for postgraduate students. “Dr Kobus is very passionate about the fact that for forensic science to be able to deliver what society expects in terms of solving crime, you cannot stand still in terms of knowledge; you have to be part of the research that underpins the new techniques,” Professor Lawrance said. Currently Dr Kobus is in charge of around 120 staff in Forensic Science SA, including the pathologists and scientific officers who are responsible for providing scientific services to the police, the Coroner and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Dr Kobus said that in the 1970s and 80s, forensic science was very much a reactive and comparative environment, but that the revolution in DNA identification, in particular, has been responsible for substantial changes to the nature of forensic science: “It is now very much a front-end, intelligence based aid to investigation,” he said. “A pinhead of blood can now provide definitive identification of an individual. More sophisticated analysis of drugs, too, has led to links being made with sources or related shipments.”

Dr Kobus said there has also been a significant shift in expectations and the volume of work. In the past, he said, forensic scientists effectively dealt with one case at a time, but that the technological advances of the past 15 years have put automated analytical systems in place that enable DNA, drug and toxicology samples to be dealt with in high volumes. For example, Forensic Science SA performs up to 20,000 DNA samples and 8,000 blood alcohol analyses each year. “As an operational laboratory, it’s simply not possible to take people off line to do extended research projects – the best way to do research is through partnerships with universities, and we have had some excellent outcomes with research linkages with Flinders in terms of completed projects,” Dr Kobus said. “Some of these projects have resulted in practical applications that have found their way into the laboratory.”

Dr Kobus said the quality of the program at Flinders was exemplary, and numerous graduates of the course have gone on to work at Forensic Science SA. “We have employed as many as 15 graduates from the course over the last five years, and all of them have been first-class,” Mr Kobus said. At Flinders, Dr Kobus will focus on developing a business plan that pulls together the various strands of relevant expertise within the University, creating an identity for the Flinders program as a nationally recognised centre for forensic science.

Advances in mobile analytical testing technology at Flinders are an area of obvious relevance. “There is a massive application for nanotechnology-fuelled devices in forensic science,” Dr Kobus said. “It would be fantastic, for instance, if you could go into the field and do some initial DNA screening that would help you separate bloodstains at a crime scene before they were sent to the laboratory.”
Dr Kobus sees further potential too, in areas such as geology for research advances in comparative soil analysis, while the boom in computer crime and electronic fraud means that there are likely to be forensic opportunities for computer science. He also hopes to explore ways of improving the “notoriously bumpy” relationship between forensic science and the law.

“Other universities – notably University of Technology Sydney and Canberra University – now have involvement in forensic science, and this is an effort to ensure that Flinders remains at the forefront of forensic science in a research and teaching sense, but more importantly in its linkage with industry,” Dr Kobus said. “Internationally, good forensic science programs have really strong linkages with good forensic science laboratories. That is what I want to cement and build on during my time at Flinders.”

[Comment: Dr Kobus was involved in the notorious Mickelberg cases involving theft of gold from the WA mint. There was some controversy during the case as to whether the pin holes in the cheque had been put there by the Mickelbergs, or by Dr Kobus].

Mickelberg v The Queen [1989] HCA 35; (1989) 167 CLR 259

In the High Court it was said that:

True it is that the presence of the pin marks in the cheque was not observed at the trial and that it could have been noticed then.

Closely related to the further evidence which the Mickelbergs' sought to introduce was the use which they attempted to make of a concession made by the Crown that pins had not been placed in the WABS cheque before it was sent to Canberra on 16 July and that pins were placed in the cheque when it was photographed in Canberra by Dr Kobus - per Mason CJ.

I would refuse Ray Mickelberg leave to appeal. I would grant special leave to appeal to Peter Mickelberg and allow his appeal, setting aside the order made by the CA in his case and remitting his case to the CA for determination in accordance with the judgments of this Court

Mickelberg v The Queen [2004] WASCA 145

Subsequently, in this case the convictions of both Raymond and Peter were overturned.

See also Dr Kobus: The NCA Bombing Inquest - Perre Evidence ‘Contaminated’

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