RONALD RYAN - Beyond Reasonable Doubt ... (Part 2)

(part 2 of 1)
Was Ronald Ryan the last man hanged in Australia) proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt ??? Was an innocent man hanged over total absence of scientific evidence ??? Who really fired the one single fatal shot ???
Criminologist Professor Gordon Hawkins introduces himself in this mind-blowing documentary and begins the story. This program explores some of the weaknesses in the capital case to explore the concept of beyond reasonable doubt. The documentary makes an excellent animated re-creation of events to help explain what went wrong.
There were just five shopping days to Christmas in 1965 when Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker initiated their escape from Pentridge Prison just after 2:PM on a sunny Sunday afternoon. During the botched prison escape a single shot was heard by hundreds of witnesses, where a prison guard died. Was this one single fatal shot fired by another prison guard as indicated by forensics?
There were three alleged verbal confessions by Ronald Ryan, saying that he had shot the prison guard. However, NONE of the three alleged confessions were signed by Ronald Ryan. In addition, these alleged verbal confessions were not recorded and therefore, unproven.
Ronald Ryan only signed documents saying that he would give NO verbal testimony.
Why did Ronald Ryan, a seasoned petty-criminal, suddenly feel the need to tell all to the police? Was he 'verballed’ as such unsigned confessions are called? 'Verbals’ are virtually impossible as police have to record on video all interviews they carry out in connection with a crime following extraordinary revelations of police corruption uncovered by various Australian Police Royal Commissions.
Professor Gordon Hawkins presents a chilling case for doubt about the validity of the damning unsigned confessions of Ronald Ryan. But in the 1960s the public, and therefore the jury, would have been much more trusting of the police.
Whether as a result an innocent man was hanged, there is at least a reasonable doubt, as Professor Hawkins so eloquently explains the crime, capital case and subsequent hanging of Ronald Ryan.
It’s significant that this documentary allows us to feel we are in the hands of a legal professional as Criminologist Professor Hawkins takes us expertly and clearly through the sequence of events and how such evidence was used by both the defence and the prosecution teams at the subsequent capital trial of Ronald Ryan.
Ronald Ryan was convicted of the shooting death of a prison guard based solely on unrecorded unsigned and unproven allegations of 'verbal confessions', said to have been made by Ryan to police. There was a NO scientific ballistic forensic evidence to prove Ryan fired a shot at all, alleged missing pieces of vital evidence that would have cleared Ryan, dire inconsistencies of all fourteen eyewitnesses for the prosecution, only one single shot heard by all witnesses which was fired by another prison guard, from a distance, at an elevated position in a downward-trajectory angle. Ballistic expert testified it was impossible for Ryan to fire at such angles. However, Ryan was found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged on February 3, 1967 at Pentridge Prison in Melbourne.
Australian Criminologist Professor Gordon Hawkins, Director of Sydney University's Institute of Criminology, doubts the damning validity of the 'unrecorded unsigned verbal confessions' of Ronald Ryan (last man hanged in Australia) in the television film documentary - Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
None of these alleged verbal confessions were recorded and none were signed by Ryan, who only signed documents saying that he would give no verbal testimony. Ryan's defence lawyer was not present at the time police allege Ryan verbally confessed.
Ryan always maintained his innocence, that he never made such verbal confessions to any person. There is no factual evidence that Ryan confessed guilt to anybody at all.
This simple but striking video re-creation, effectively set the scene and lead us Professor’s Hawkins arguments ... Why would Ronald Ryan, a seasoned petty-criminal, suddenly feel the need to tell all to the police? Was Ryan 'verballed’ as such unrecorded unsigned confessions are called?
By Australian law, 'verbals’ are meaningless, as police have to record all interviews they carry out in connection with a crime, following extraordinary revelations of police corruption uncovered by various Australian Police Royal Commissions.
Criminologist Professor Gordon Hawkins, presents a chilling case for doubt about the validity of the damning unrecorded unsigned allegations of verbal confessions by Ronald Ryan. In the 1960s the public, and therefore the jury, were much more trusting of the police.
Whether as a result, an innocent man was hanged, there is at least a reasonable doubt, as Criminologist Professor Hawkins so eloquently explains.