The forensic scientist who has been grilled over the reliability of his work on the Winchester case is too sick to continue giving evidence in the David Eastman inquiry.
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Victorian expert Robert Barnes has faced long days of questioning in the inquiry over the forensic work he did following the murder of the ACT's police chief Colin Stanley Winchester in 1989. Mr Barnes' analysis of gunshot residue provided a critical link between Eastman and the murder scene, and helped eventually convict the former Treasury official of one of Australia's most notorious crimes in 1995.
It emerged on Wednesday that Mr Barnes, who is fighting aggressive cancer, is too sick to continue.
The inquiry was forced to delay his evidence on Thursday, after he became physically unwell in the witness box. He was expected back on Tuesday, but did not appear, and it was confirmed on Wednesday that Mr Barnes is now not likely to come back at all.
His counsel, Ian Freckleton, SC, had also remarked last week that his funding was running out.
The news comes after Mr Barnes admitted last week he may have misled the inquest into Mr Winchester's death by saying that particles found in Eastman's boot were ''indistinguishable'' from those found at the murder scene. He also last week admitted that ''unacceptable confusion'' was allowed in the labelling of samples taken from Eastman's car and the murder scene.
Earlier in the inquiry, it emerged that Mr Barnes had labelled himself a ''police witness'' when speaking with detectives from Operation Peat, the team tasked with solving Mr Winchester's murder.
Mr Barnes told Detective Sergeant Tom McQuillen, who was secretly recording the conversation, other scientists needed to be prevented from criticising his work. ''If we don't put a brake on these turkeys … we don't want these bastards putting that sort of stuff in writing,'' Mr Barnes told the detective. ''They've got to be told, you don't say I do not agree. You ask questions, all right.''
Another witness had described a situation when Mr Barnes had become angry and slammed his hand down on the bonnet of a car, asking why police weren't arresting Eastman on the basis of his evidence.
The same witness, lead police forensic officer Peter Nelipa, also said he had to warn Mr Barnes to take his hand off the top of Mr Winchester's car on the night of the murder because he might leave fingerprints.
Mr Barnes denied either of those encounters took place.
The expert quit the Victorian State Forensic Science Laboratory, where he conducted work on the Winchester case, in 1993 while facing disciplinary charges. He took exhibits relating to the case to his home.
They were seized in a raid by police due to an audit of his work, conducted after concerns were raised in another case in which he had given evidence. Mr Barnes claims the audit was a deliberate attempt to undermine him because he had given evidence that could potentially lead to criticism of Victorian Police.
