ACT robbing families of closure with police funding shortfall

Good old-fashioned policing, coupled together with DNA advances allowed police to achieve this momentous result for the 24-year-old cold case.

In the months immediately after Irma's murder, ACT police left no stone unturned, following up several hundred leads from suspects and acquaintances, trying to find the vital puzzle piece that would quickly lead to an arrest.

Every person known to the family was questioned and DNA taken, but still there was no breakthrough.

Irma's family were subject to several emotional rollercoaster rides in the 24-year wait.

In 2014 police launched a cutting-edge forensic search after they uncovered a DNA link between samples found in the home invasion and previous break-ins to a seemingly harmless prank at the Phillip Pitch and Putt involving five teenagers.

There was a familial DNA link between one of those five and DNA that was found in the Palasics' home. Familial DNA is where there is a partial match to a DNA sample, such as a sibling, parent or other close blood relative.

After significant media exposure nationwide, the promising lead wound up as a dead-end and the investigation lost momentum once more. The Palasics family were disappointed with the results but appreciative of everything the police had done.

Moving forward almost another decade, with the unexpected announcement in September 2023 that Operation Spider, the name given to the Palasics investigation, finally had a breakthrough.

The various state DNA databases had finally been linked nationally, and a sample had matched one taken from the home of Irma and Gregor two decades before.

Police were confident they had their first suspect. A second person was then arrested in December and charged with Irma's murder and criminal proceedings are ongoing.

Dr Annalisa Durdle, lecturer in forensic biology at Deakin University, states: "Before DNA had ever been used in a forensic case, forward thinking law enforcement bodies, like Victoria Police, were hopeful that one day technology would become advanced enough that DNA stains collected at crime scenes could prove useful. In 1982, Victoria Police made the decision to start storing biological material in a freezer. In 2011, they started re-examining these pieces of evidence and solved a lot of cold cases through the DNA."

Criminal DNA collection has come a long way since then. According to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the National Criminal Investigation DNA Database (NCIDD system) was established in Canberra in June 2001, helping to solve crimes by linking DNA profiles from crime scenes with persons of interest.

In 2018 the NCIDD Integrated Forensic Analysis (NCIDD-IFA) was then rolled out to enable kinship matching, familial searching and advanced direct matching.

Today the NCIDD holds more than 1.6 million DNA profiles that have been uploaded by Australian police from crime scenes, convicted offenders, suspects, volunteers, items belonging to missing persons and unknown human remains.

There are now countless examples of DNA being used to solve crimes that occurred months, years and decades ago, with offenders being convicted who weren't initially even considered as suspects.

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ACT police had to re-allocate resources from other units to be able to concentrate solely on Irma's murder investigation when the new DNA evidence came to light.

This advancement in Irma's case should herald a new chapter for ACT Policing in the capital.

Following on from this success, renewed hopes for the families of the other five well-known unsolved murders in the ACT would be understandable.

The cases of Frank Campbell, Kathryn Grosvenor, Susan Winburn, Allen Redston and Keren Rowland remain cold, with the earliest of these dating back to 1966. Unfortunately, in the cases of Allen Redston and Keren Rowland, the collection of DNA may not have been protocol at the time of their murders.

As such, relying on offenders to reoffend and a DNA match to occur before allocating resources to a case cannot be the only progress these cases see.

There has to be some room for thoughtfulness and compassion, ensuring the community is kept safe and criminals brought to justice, no matter how long ago an offence occurred.

The ACT government appears to lack any motivation to achieve justice for the cold case victims and bring their murderers to justice, even with the new advances in DNA technology now at their fingertips.

Which vital police services have been left under-funded for the last three to four years due to resources being diverted to Irma's murder investigation?

The government needs to prioritise the allocation of funds for adequate police staff and resources for the growing Canberra community equitably, without running the police service cost neutral.

The goal of being Australia's most progressive city should also apply to law enforcement. The unwillingness of this government to sufficiently fund police for them to do their work properly is criminal.