Gene Gibson Court Case Timeline -Background

-Police Investigation… * Soon after Josh Warneke was found dead police investigation started.

* However, the investigation lasted years and kept dragged on and on until…

* About 4 years after the death of Josh the police found a new suspect.

* They found Gene Gibson, a new suspect when they arrested him because he was in a stolen car. * And after interviewing Gene for 9 hours straight, Gene was coerced by them into telling them he committed the crime.
(Also the interview wasn’t recorded as required by law, there was no interpreter to assist Gene’s poor English and he was told two witnesses were against him.)<br>

- The Witnesses… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQx80Typfs In the 60 Minutes youtube video of Gene’s case there are images of both of these witnesses yet the video is blocked on our school computers so please just imagine above is an image of both of them. * But before Gene Gibson was interviewed by the police, the police interviewed some other people who knew him.

* It isn’t clear how many people they interviewed but we do know for certain two of their interview ‘witnesses’ ended up telling the police Gene committed the crime.

* However, the interviews followed a very unjust path in turn almost forcing these two reluctant female interviewees to say Gene did the crime. * The police in these interviews provided no interpreter and in the first interviewees case they were threatened and abused by the police so much so they thought they were going to go to jail so they told the police Gene did the crime. In the second interviewees case they were told by a detective Gene committed the crime then were relentlessly questioned by the police for an answer and they knew the police weren’t going to stop until they got a suspect so they told the police Gene committed the crime.<br>

-How Gene ‘Committed’ The Crime… Gene first told the police in his interview he ran Josh over in a car, but the forensic evidence shows that was impossible so...

Secondly he said he hit Josh with a rock but it still didn’t match up so...

Then lastly he said he hit him with a large round metal pole he found by a specific tree in front of a house, however the house wasn’t even built at the time the crime was committed!

Gene also couldn’t recall where the killing took place.

And he said Josh was wearing a shirt when he when he killed him which he wasn’t.

As the police where trying to collect even more evidence from Gene, Gene said Josh was lying parallel to the road dead when he was actually lying perpendicular.

And on top of all that when he was found a clump of hair was discovered in his hand and it was sent to the state and federal police laboratory in Canberra for research but the police here didn’t wait for it but later the laboratory revealed the hair had to have been cut in by a sharp object like an axe or a tomahawk. Metal Pole<br>

-The true suspect/The polices ignorance… * Even though the police where delving deeper and deeper into accusing the innocent Gene Gibson some very important information was going ignored.

* Author, Glenys Ward contacted the police and told them she had heard of a man called Aaron Sibosado who apparently had heard killed Josh Warneke with a tomahawk. * Now, the police didn’t choose to investigate this further however this new information fits perfectly with what the forensics found out about Josh being attack with a sharp object…

* Coincidence, or not?<br>

-The Court Rejects… * When the police first took Gene Gibson to court the case was immediately dismissed as the judge thought the polices key evidence of Gene committing the crime, his admission in the interview seemed too flawed and dodgy as they didn’t record the interview or even provide Gene an interpreter.<br>

-Court Again… * After that court case was rejected, the police tried again but only with the two forced witnesses against Gene.

* Gene who still didn’t understand the court system took the advice from his lawyer and plead guilty in court through an interpreter.

* And after that Judge, Lindy Jenkins sentenced Gene to 7 and a half years of imprisonment.<br>

-The Appeal… * After Gene had spent just under 5 years in jail, he appealed on the basis that he didn’t understand the court system.

* So, he was given a case in the supreme court of appeal in WA.

* When the police reinterviewed their key evidence, the witnesses against Gene they both changed back to saying Gene didn’t commit the crime.

* So with no evidence against Gene, Gene succeeded in his court trial and received 1.3 million dollars compensation for being wrongly convicted.

* The image on the top right is of Gene just as he was released from jail.<br>