Mum to stand trial for baby murder
BREAKING NEWS: The Cairns woman accused of murdering and dismembering a newborn baby 13 years ago has been committed to stand trial.
Violet Flora Evans, 53, appeared in court in Cairns this morning.
Magistrate Sandra Pearson ordered Ms Evans to stand trial for murder, saying there was sufficient evidence for a jury to convict.
It comes after a week-long committal hearing held late last month.
The widow and mother-of-one is charged with murder, concealing a birth and interfering with a corpse.
She was charged in August last year in relation to the 1996 incident, when severed torso of a newborn baby boy was found at a Mooroobool driveway.
Video: Police raid after baby murder tip-off
The breakthrough in the case last year came after a public tip-off and through use of advanced DNA technology.
During last month's committal hearing, a police witness told Cairns Magistrates' Court that Ms Evans had confessed to police she cut her newborn's body in half after it stopped breathing.
During the police interview, Ms Evans also allegedly revealed details of an extramarital affair, allegedly admitting the baby's father was not her husband but a man called "Michael" whom she met through her church.
In making her case at the end of the hearing, police prosecutor Sharon Steward submitted that the desperate lengths Ms Evans allegedly took to conceal her pregnancy and the baby allegedly fathered by her secret lover gave her a motive form urder.
But defence barrister Tony Kimmins accused police investigators of "badgering" Ms Evans during an eight-hour interview, asking leading questions until she gave them the answers they wanted.
The Supreme Court is yet to set a date for the trial.
Full story in The Cairns Post tomorrow.
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Accused: Violet Flora Evans outside court in Cairns.
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