By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A man hanged in 1922 for the murder and rape of a young girl in the southern Australian city of Melbourne was posthumously pardoned for the crime on Tuesday after new tests found crucial evidence against him was flawed.

Authorities in the Victorian state pardoned Colin Campbell Ross, who was hanged for raping and murdering a 12-year old girl and dumping her body in an alley in 1921.

"This really is a tragic case where a miscarriage of justice has resulted in a man being hanged," Victoria's Attorney-General Rob Hulls said on Tuesday. "This pardon is a recognition that there are serious doubts about Mr Ross's conviction for murder."

Australia is a strong opponent of the death penalty, with the last hanging taking place in Melbourne in 1967 when petty criminal Ronald Ryan was executed for his involvement in a prison escape, during which a prison guard was shot dead.

Hulls said the case was a warning to anyone who believed Australia should re-introduce the death penalty, which was formally abolished in Victoria in 1975.

The Ross case has been controversial since he was executed 115 days after his arrest, with witnesses saying he was at work at the time of the crime and with Ross going to the gallows protesting his innocence.

The prosecutors relied on hairs found on a blanket at Ross's home, which experts at the time said came from the murdered girl Alma Tirtschke, and from a jailhouse confession, reported by a fellow inmate who had convictions for perjury.

But a researcher found the hairs used as evidence against Ross in an archive in 1995, and new tests proved they did not come from the murdered girl. Continued...

Innocent folks have paid the price since the beginning of time.
More criminals should pay rather than set in jail, costing us money.
My opinion.

Talk about a cold case.

One innocent life killed legally by our government here is too many. It is an abomination to the people who support the death penalty and our own government.

to many innocent people die,to many people who should be dead are alive

I think it is a waste of tax payer money to research a case where the outcome...THE MAN IS DEAD already, it is a shame that the money used to look up this case (that ended 87 years ago) didn't go into looking in to the hundreds of cases that have no conviction or those people aready serving a life term.

What about his family? They had been living under the shadow of having a "convicted" rapist and murderer as a relative. At least now that his name has been cleared, they no longer have to live with that stigma attached to the family heritage.

Oh yeah, my stepfather was a pedophile and convicted of severe animal cruelty. No one treats me different when they learn about it. Besides it was 80some years ago. I mean, if anyone looks at the family because of the actions of one member well, why would the family want to associate with that person besides everyone has someone in there family that has a ghost or skeleton.

Everyone? Not so sure about that. Still I was just speculating, in any case. Maybe his descendants, like you, don't really care anymore because of the passage of time, etc..

Granted not everyone. I was just saying that my stepfather and one of my cousins have been in jail for something.

No one is perfect and somewhere down the line there may be a baby out of wed lock or a drug conviction or a lot of things that someone some where will take issue with. Such is life, but the truth is that you should be looked at for YOUR actions not anothers.

I totally agree with you there. I am not my Father, I am me, right? Too bad that society in general doesn't seem to agree with us. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree..."

Agreed. I guess that enlightened people would think like us, but who knows what is really in a persons mind?

another reason for banning the death penalty...