Networked Knowledge - Media Report

[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

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On 21 November 2007 Richard Watts of Melbourne Community Voice reported “Hopeful signs in gay mis-trial”

He said that Victoria’s Attorney General, Rob Hulls, has written to supporters of a gay Melbourne man sentenced to 19 years for a murder he may not have committed, to suggest they appeal to the state Governor for mercy. In the letter, Mr Hulls advises Fritz Maarten, author of the book Justice for Jamie:

The mistaken incarceration of Jamie Koelman, to ask the Governor to exercise “the royal prerogative of mercy…in Mr Koelman’s case.”

“A petition for mercy may seek redress or mercy in a number of forms … The Governor of Victoria decides whether to grant or deny a petition for mercy on the advice of the Premier, following a detailed assessment of the case by me as the Attorney General,” Mr Hulls wrote.

“Under section 584 of the Crimes Act 1958, I can, under consideration of a petition for mercy, refer a case to the Court of Appeal for re-hearing and / or the trial division of the Supreme Court for an opinion,” he added.

Jamie Koelman was arrested in 1997 for the murder of 60-year-old gay man Francis Arnoldt, whose body was found, stabbed to death outside a sporting pavilion in a Brunswick Park in 1991. Mr Koelman has now served 10 years of a 19 year prison sentence for the crime, which Mr Maarten and others believe he did not commit. In his book, published earlier this year, Mr Maarten details the case for a mistrial, which includes evidence which was originally overlooked, such as the deceased’s plan to change his will shortly before he was murdered; and the fact that virtually no blood was found at the alleged scene of the crime.

“The very basic reason I believe the man was never killed there was because virtually no blood was found there; only the same amount of blood as a cut hand would produce; despite the fact that Mr Arnoldt was stabbed twice through the heart and ‘wandered around’ according to the story Jamie gave,” Mr

Maarten told MCV this week. “But Jamie of course didn’t kill him; he just made up this story, which he’s always claimed.”

In his book, Mr Maarten suggests that Mr Koelman, well known for telling tall stories, confessed to being Mr Arnoldt’s killer while under the influence of marijuana and alcohol. Additionally, he believes that the police investigation into the crime was badly flawed; perhaps deliberately so.

“I wrote this book … to show the manipulation of the information [at Mr Koelman’s trial by] the police to get a successful result for them, and that is a conviction; [and to show] the original mishandling of the investigation into Mr Arnoldt’s death, and the misleading of the coroner,” said Mr Maarten.

In his letter to Mr Maarten, the Attorney General noted that any assessment of Mr Koelman’s case would involve a thorough investigation of the grounds for a petition of mercy being made. He also noted that the Office of Police Integrity has already begun to initiate “preliminary inquiries” into allegations raised in Mr Maarten’s book.

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