The inquiry into Queensland's state-run forensics lab has heard police DNA collection procedures could have affected the viability of samples in Shandee Blackburn's 2013 murder investigation.
A podcast into the woman's death prompted the inquiry and her case is in the spotlight at the hearings in Brisbane this week.
The inquiry is scrutinising the 2018 decision by the forensics lab and Queensland Police Service — the testing facility's major client — to classify DNA samples linked to major crime investigations as "DNA Insufficient for Further Processing", or DIFP, if they fell below a certain threshold.
Additional testing has since successfully detected DNA in many samples, raising questions about whether it affected the course of some rape and murder investigations.
A coronial investigation into Ms Blackburn's death was reopened earlier this year after concerns were raised over alleged errors and failures by the laboratory, several years before the change in procedures.
In 2020 a coroner found Ms Blackburn’s ex-partner John Peros was responsible for her stabbing death, despite his acquittal by a Supreme Court jury in 2017.
Mr Peros has maintained his innocence, and no-one has ever been found guilty of Ms Blackburn's killing.
Inquiry told process to collect blood samples 'may not be best practice'
Counsel Assisting Laura Reece today told the inquiry that at the time of Ms Blackburn's death, police used a wetting agent that contained 70 per cent alcohol to collect blood samples, which "may not be best practice".
Walter Sofronoff KC, who is conducting the inquiry, responded that it could be concluded that swabs submitted by police could have been unreliable before arriving at the lab.
"It's not possible to conclude that the offender's DNA was not on Ms Blackburn's body or clothing, and it's not possible to conclude that Ms Blackburn's DNA was not present in the car of the person who had been suspected of the killing," he said.
"It was not correct to say that there was no DNA, it would have been correct to say that having regard to the methods employed, it was not possible to say whether or not there was any DNA in relevant places."
Expert witnesses are expected to appear to examine collection issues further.
Ms Reece also presented the inquiry with an email chain between managing scientist Cathie Allen and and Queensland police in 2013, which she said illuminated "considerable pressure" applied to the lab in relation to the speed of testing.
'Potentially thousands of cases that have been negatively affected'
A group of expert scientists today examined a range of issues with the collection and testing of DNA in the Blackburn case, including the use of ethanol swabs and tests of large blood samples, which should have yielded results.
US geneticist Bruce Budowle, Jo Veth from New Zealand and Kirsty Wright, who previously worked at the forensic services lab gave evidence today, and Dr Wright spoke outside court.
"What we've heard over the course of the inquiry is potentially thousands of cases that have been negatively affected by this unprecedented DNA catastrophe," she said.
"There's no playbook for this, so we need an independent body with independent scientists, independent investigators, and lawyers.
"I don't think it's reasonable that a taskforce for within Queensland Health can appropriately address these issues. So what I'm calling for on behalf of the victims that have been affected by this disaster is a commission to be set up to do three things, one, to appropriately identify cases that should be investigated further.
"Secondly, to review that those samples, those DNA samples have been appropriately and thoroughly tested.
"And third, to make sure whatever the results arise from those, that there's some recommendations to the DPP about how to progress those in the judicial setting."
Ms Blackburn's mother Vicki said it was painful to sit through the hearing, but that it was also a relief.
"We're relieved that we're here and we do get a chance to find out what really happened to Shandee," she said.
"We knew that things had gone wrong, just to find out what had gone wrong those few details filled in some blank spaces that we didn't know."
What has the lab inquiry revealed so far?
The hearings have heard about the "toxic" workplace culture of Queensland Health's Forensic and Scientific Services lab, concerns about scientific process and leadership failures.
One scientist said she repeatedly raised concerns after becoming worried that sexual assault swabs were being categorised as DIFP when sperm could be seen under the microscope — an obvious sign male DNA was present.
Senior scientist Kylie Rika told the inquiry she had a "sickening feeling" working at the lab, saying she had raised concerns as far back as 2018, but was ignored in a "toxic" work environment.
Two independent scientists told the hearings the lab staff had "divided allegiances and a lack of trust".
The inquiry heard variously about an incident dubbed "bin-gate" (involving a confidential documents bin), and the affectionate nickname "the FRIT f***ers" [referring to the forensic reporting and intelligence team] some scientists adopted after allegedly hearing the managing scientist Ms Allen refer to them as "those f***ers over there" — a claim she denied under questioning from her lawyer Matthew Hickey.
The inquiry also heard Ms Allen wanted to know which staff members were trying to get pregnant, though Ms Allen told the inquiry she felt she had been made out to be a "Disney villain".
She said there had been funding pressure on the DNA forensic analysis lab and "trying to do more with less is really difficult".
Team leader Justin Howes was also grilled over what counsel assisting Michael Hodge KC described as a "complete failure of duty and responsibility" to respond to the concerns over DNA testing.
Mr Howes told the inquiry that "with the benefit of hindsight", he agreed.
