Queensland forensic lab in crisis: DNA delays leave victims waiting years for justice

Further flaws have been exposed at a troubled forensic lab as major crime victims wait more than a year for test results that can be processed in days.

Former NSW Police commissioner Mick Fuller will lead an expert team to overhaul the Queensland DNA testing lab after a damning review released on Monday.

The investigation found the lab was at a “point of critical failure” with contamination and testing issues, causing delays in the state’s justice lasting years.

DNA evidence for major crime cases over the past two-and-a-half years are set to be re-examined.

Forensic biologist Kirsty Wright co-led the review, which discovered the median time for the lab to process material for major-crime cases was about 420 days.

“Victims are waiting over a year for the rape kits to be tested,” she told reporters on Monday.

“In other jurisdictions, that’s taking five to 10 days. So you can see the chasm in the service that we need to rebuild.”

Queensland Magistrates Court cases relying on DNA evidence were being delayed by up to three years.

“That’s just simply unacceptable,” Dr Wright said.

More than 13,000 samples - up to 12 months’ worth of crime scene submissions - are still to be retested by a lab that has already undergone back-to-back inquiries

Forensic Science Queensland was established in May 2023 after two inquiries exposed major failings over a number of years at the lab.

They included a “fundamentally flawed” automated testing method that may have led to offenders potentially escaping conviction for nine years from 2007.

But Dr Wright said post-inquiry changes to the DNA testing method had been done incorrectly, ensuring samples from May 2023 would have to be retested.

“We’ve found systemic contamination. We’ve found shortcuts are being taken,” she said.

“We’ve found that the accreditation standards aren’t being adhered to ... test methods are being used that haven’t been properly tested.

“So we need to go back and examine that further to see how many cases in the last two-and-a-half years might have been compromised.”

Mr Fuller will oversee the expert team that will drive the review’s 26 recommendations.

Dr Wright said they provided a “comprehensive blueprint” for change, looking not only at the lab but also at ways it can better serve the courts and police.

“This report isn’t a box of Band-Aids,” she said.

Forensic Science Queensland director Linzi Wilson-Wilde resigned in July, a month after being suspended over “contamination issues” at the lab.

Dr Wright oversaw the lab review with renowned FBI expert Bruce Budowle.

She had earlier spoken out about the lab, triggering the two inquiries held in as many years.