Image: ABC Four Corners.
Two men have been charged over the death of a 33-year-old mother after a public outcry over the case.
Lynette Daley, 33, died in January 2011 from serious injuries after violence sex acts were performed on her on Ten Mile Beach in New South Wales.
Daley was with two men, Paul Maris and Adrian Atwater, who called an ambulance saying she had lost consciousness after a night of drinking.
When ambulance officers arrived, Daley, a mother of seven, was bruised, naked and bloodied. She had been dead “for some time”.
An autopsy would later discover that she had died from blunt force trauma to her genital tract, and had horrific internal and external injuries.
Maris and Atwater claimed they had had consensual sex with Daley.
However, experts say that Daley’s blood alcohol level was so high that she would not have been able to consent to sex. She may not have been conscious.
The case was originally referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions by the NSW State Coroner, but neither of the men was prosecuted.
Daley’s outraged family took the case to ABC journalists, and the documentary programme Four Corners ran a story on the case in May.
After the story aired, more than 60,000 signed an online petition called for a review of the DPP’s decision not to charge the men. The case was duly reviewed, and last night charges were finally laid against the Maris and Atwater.
Attwater, 42, has been charged with manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault.
Maris, 46, has been charged with accessory after the fact to manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault. They are both due to appear in Grafton Local Court on August 2.
