The mother of murdered north Queensland woman Shandee Blackburn says she burst into tears when she found out her daughter's coronial investigation was being reopened.
"It's nine years on and I think we finally have a little bit of hope that we might get justice for Shandee," Vicki Blackburn said.
The 23-year-old was walking home from work in Mackay in the early hours of February 9, 2013, when she was stabbed more than 20 times.
Last week, Coroner David O'Connell wrote to Ms Blackburn informing her he had reopened his coronial inquiry after receiving a request from Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman.
A spokesperson from the Coroners Court of Queensland said Ms Fentiman requested the inquiry be reopened to further investigate issues around the handling and testing of forensic evidence.
In November last year, independent forensic biologist Kirsty Wright reviewed hundreds of forensic files from the murder investigation for The Australian newspaper's podcast series Shandee's Story.
She said handling of the case by Queensland Health services was a "forensic train wreck" and joined Shandee's family in calling for forensic samples to be retested.
This led to Queensland's Health Minister, Yvette D'Ath, writing to Ms Fentiman, calling for the coronial inquiry to be reopened.
Ms Blackburn wants DNA samples to be retested as part of the reopened inquiry.
"We've obviously hoping that the samples show the person who committed Shandee's murder," she said.
Ms Fentiman said she was pleased Mr O'Connell had reopened his investigation.
Ms Blackburn's former partner John Peros was found not guilty of her murder by a Supreme Court jury in a 12-day trial in 2017.
But in August 2020, Mr O'Connell found there was ample evidence that showed Mr Peros killed Shandee and there was no other possible conclusion that could be drawn based on the evidence.
Mr Peros has maintained his innocence, and no-one has ever been found guilty of Ms Blackburn's murder.
Nine-year anniversary
Today marks exactly nine years since Shandee was brutally stabbed to death.
"It's a hard day," Ms Blackburn said.
This year, Shandee's sister Shannah and her mother sponsored a kennel at the RSPCA on the Gold Coast.
"We get photos of the puppies who are in the kennel during that year, and we can go and see them," she said.
Ms Blackburn believes the alleged failings at the forensic lab do not just relate to Shandee's case.
"They've been going for a long time, and they affect every case that relies on DNA sampling," she said.
"How long was that going on?
"This is an opportunity to sort those issues out and so moving forward, people can have confidence in the government."
