Azaria's Lying Case Study

One of Australia’s most controversial cases deals with the Chamberlain family; Michael Chamberlain, Lindy Chamberlain, Aiden Chamberlain (6), Reagan Chamberlain (4), and Azaria Chamberlain. Starting with their family vacation at Ayers Rock, now Uluru, baby Azaria was presumably snatched by a dingo from the tent on the campsite. According to eyewitness and mother, Lindy Chamberlain, a dingo was seen rushing out of the tent where one of her two sons, Reagan, was sleeping with 9-week old baby Azaria. Lindy Chamberlain’s repeated screaming of “…the dingo’s got my baby!” sent approximately 300 people searching for the dingo and the baby, but no conclusive evidence was found at the time. This was until August 24th, when Azaria’s bloodied jumpsuit,

As previously stated, Lindy Chamberlain allegedly saw the dingo exiting the tent, but admitted that she would not lie by stating that she saw the baby in the mouth of the dingo. The family’s response throughout the case never faltered, and neither did the proof, although wrongfully stacked against them. Before Lindy Chamberlain’s response to Azaria’s cries, other Ayer Rock campers on site stated that they heard growls close by. Eyewitness evidence also reported that dingoes were indeed present on site the night of August 17. Most, if not all, campers on the grounds of now Uluru rock seemed to believe the Chamberlain’s story, but why didn’t the rest of the world? Why had Lindy Chamberlain been wrongfully convicted? It was easier to demonize the family, and a lot more difficult to properly examine a case. Found outside of the Chamberlain tent was paw prints and drag marks in the sand. According to those who incriminated Lindy Chamberlain, it was all an attempt to free herself of guilt and animate the horrid tale of a murderous dingo. Non-human hair was also present in the tent. This hair, as later determined, was canine hair, but at the time of the case, it belonged to a cat. After being raided, approximately 300 of their item

During the case, evidence of the dingo’s capabilities and dietary habits were presented by the defense, but ignored by the court and public. Engineer Les Harris informed the speculators of the strength of a dingo’s carnassial teeth, and cited how a captive female dingo removed meat from its wrapping while leaving it intact. For a dingo, carrying a ten-pound baby is nothing when compared to how an adult dingo, maxing out at 44 pounds, is able to carry and eat an adult kangaroo, averaging a whopping 200 pounds. Dingoes typically hunt large game. For example, “an adult female dingo [carried] a wallaby of approximately twenty pounds… about half a mile, for which distance she moved at a trot with no indication that the load impaired her in any way,” reported Les Harris to Coroner Barritt on December of 1980, a fact that was ignored. Many people had misconceptions of dingoes, believing and comparing them to the average dog, believing it to be impossible for the head of a baby to fit in the jaws of a dingo, to which the defense replied by displaying the head of a doll in dingo jaws. In 1998, just weeks before Azaria’s death, a 13-month old girl was carried off and injured by a dingo, until her father intervened. All evidence provided by the defense was ignored. Although, since then more incidents of dingoes have occurred.