Australian Olympian accused of baby murder
No time for five babies: Keli Lane accused
KIM ARLINGTON
August 10, 2010
Keli Lane had a clear idea of what she wanted to achieve in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics.
An elite athlete, she enjoyed a busy social life and was determined to represent Australia when women's water polo was contested as an Olympic event for the first time in 2000.
Raising a child had no part in that plan, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.
So when Ms Lane became pregnant five times between 1992 and 1999, she allegedly resolved to avoid the responsibility. Her first two pregnancies were terminated. Two babies were secretly carried to term and adopted out, in 1995 and 1999. Her fourth pregnancy was also hidden from her family, friends and boyfriend. The little girl, born at Auburn Hospital on September 12, 1996, was named Tegan. Ms Lane is now accused of her murder.
As her trial began yesterday, the Crown Prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, said Ms Lane was a young woman with an active social life and sex life - and an ''overriding ambition to represent Australia''.
''A child was not part of this picture,'' he said. She did not want ''to be saddled with the responsibility of having a child'' and had sought ''a permanent solution to all these five pregnancies''.
On September 14, 1996, four or five hours after leaving Auburn Hospital, Ms Lane attended a wedding with her then boyfriend. The Crown alleges Tegan was murdered in the hours between her discharge and the wedding.
Mr Tedeschi said it might seem strange that somebody would be able to conceal three pregnancies from those around them but ''each of these three pregnancies that went to full term was completely hidden by the accused''.
Ms Lane allegedly disguised her figure with sloppy joes and jumpers tied around her waist.
The only people who suspected she was pregnant were water polo teammates. Curious about why she covered herself with a towel until slipping into the pool, they put on their goggles and checked her out underwater in her swimming costume, Mr Tedeschi said. But they said nothing and neither did Ms Lane.
She even played in a grand final for her Balmain club just hours before she went into labour for the first time, in 1995.
The jury heard she disappeared from post-match drinks at the Bridge Hotel and took herself to nearby Balmain Hospital with contractions.
Ms Lane, 35, has pleaded not guilty to Tegan's murder and to three counts of perjury relating to affidavits signed by her.
The court heard there was no evidence she suffered from post-natal depression or any mental disturbance. She allegedly resumed her usual sporting, social and sexual activities after giving birth and nobody noticed anything amiss.
At the wedding she attended the day she allegedly murdered Tegan, she seemed her normal self. Ms Lane was afraid her family would abandon her if they learnt of her pregnancies, Mr Tedeschi said. Her fears were not realised when her family did eventually find out.
He said the other ''bizarre'' aspect of the case was why someone from a solid family, who was getting a tertiary education, would fall pregnant five times.
Although Ms Lane was taking the contraceptive pill, she drank heavily and would keep up with the boys. When there was ''a lot of drinking … a lot of chucking'', the pill may not have been absorbed, Mr Tedeschi said. ''Maybe she wasn't taking it properly; who knows?''
A few weeks after Tegan was born, Ms Lane began coaching water polo at Ravenswood School for Girls.
The fact she signed up for the job before the birth ''shows only too vividly that she had no intention of ever taking Tegan home'', Mr Tedeschi said.
The trial continues.
No time for five babies: Keli Lane accused of murder
No proof Lane baby is dead, court told
August 12, 2010
Prosecutors could not prove Tegan Lane was dead, let alone that the baby was murdered by her mother, the defence team for Keli Lane contends.
The Crown detailed its allegations over the first three days of Ms Lane's Supreme Court trial. Yesterday her defence barrister, Keith Chapple, SC, outlined her side of the story, and disputed fundamental aspects of the prosecution case.
''They cannot prove how, when, where or even why Keli Lane would murder her newborn child,'' he told the jury. ''They cannot even prove that that child is dead. This woman, the accused, has never killed anybody.''
Ms Lane, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Tegan. She is accused of killing the two-day-old girl on September 14, 1996, the day they left Auburn Hospital.
The Crown yesterday withdrew an earlier suggestion that Tegan may have been disposed of at the Olympic site at Homebush. The prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, told the jury there was no evidence at all of what happened to Tegan after Ms Lane left hospital and he "ought not to have speculated about the Olympic site" as there was no evidence it had been searched.
The court has heard that over the course of seven years, Ms Lane - a former member of the Australian junior water polo team - terminated two pregnancies and secretly gave birth to two other children she gave up for adoption. The prosecution has alleged that she murdered Tegan.
The Crown alleges Ms Lane wanted to avoid the responsibility of bringing up a child as she pursued an active social life and because of her ambition to compete at the Sydney Olympics.
Mr Chapple questioned whether it was a logical motive that ''you murder a baby because you want to play water polo'' and disputed the allegation that Ms Lane took ''the criminal step, the extraordinary and amazing step'' of killing Tegan to continue her life unburdened.
Rather, he said, she ''took the responsible course with that baby, Tegan, giving it to the natural father''.
Ms Lane told police she gave newborn Tegan to the child's father, a man named Andrew Morris or Norris, with whom she had a brief affair. Mr Tedeschi said Morris/Norris was ''a totally fictitious person invented by the accused'', and that extensive searches had found no trace of him or Tegan. But Mr Chapple said names might have been changed, they might not be in the country, or Tegan's father might not have given his real name in the first place.
Aaron Tyack, who had a committed relationship with Ms Lane ending in 1994, was the first witness called at the trial.
He said when she unexpectedly fell pregnant, they decided on a termination - something that was not taken lightly.
He recalled meeting her at the Manly ferry terminal after the procedure. She was ''very upset, putting on a brave face'', he said.
The court heard Mr Tyack was a sprint kayaker, and he and Ms Lane were both looking to go to the Olympics. Ms Lane also had an interest in teaching, Mr Tyack said. ''She always loved kids.''
The trial continues.
Murder trial | No proof Keli Lane's baby is dead, court told
Lane gave up baby to chase goal, jury told
17 August 2010
KELI LANE gave her first child up for adoption, saying she would not be a good parent if she did not try to achieve her potential, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.
Ms Lane, a water polo champion, told the adoption agency she had missed out on national selection because she was pregnant. Within months of the birth, she had won a place in the Australian team competing in Canada.
According to the agency's records, tendered at her trial, she ''wishes to finish her education and pursue her sporting career … She believes she would not parent well if she did not attempt to achieve her full potential; to try to do both would be unfair to [the baby].''
Ms Lane's first child was taken into foster care days after birth, before the planned adoption.
Records show Ms Lane wept during most of the initial interview with the adoption agency worker Sheila Townsend. The court has heard this was the first of three full-term pregnancies Ms Lane kept secret from her partner, family and friends. Two earlier pregnancies were terminated, the jury has heard.
Her first and third children were adopted out. She is accused of murdering her second baby, Tegan. No trace has been found of the girl since Ms Lane left Auburn Hospital on September 14, 1996, two days after Tegan's birth.
Prosecutors allege that children were not part of the picture as Ms Lane pursued her dream to represent Australia at the Sydney Olympics. The Crown asserts that Ms Lane found the process of adopting out her first child more complicated and harrowing than she expected and, not wanting to go through it again, murdered Tegan.
Ms Lane, 35, denies having killed her baby. She maintains she gave the newborn to the child's natural father, a man named Andrew Norris.
Ms Townsend, who was co-ordinator of the first adoption, took the jury through notes from the agency's file yesterday.
''Keli was frequently in tears'' but determined to go ahead with the adoption. ''She was grieving the loss of her child in anticipation,'' Ms Townsend said.
The court heard Ms Lane had several access visits with the baby, cuddling the child, exclaiming over how much it had grown and how ''beautiful'' it was.
Visiting the proposed adoptive parents, she shared her reasons for giving the baby up. When someone asked her if she wished she had a baby too, she replied, ''Sometimes I do,'' and wept.
The Crown alleges Ms Lane was lying when she told the agency that her parents, and the baby's father, were aware of the pregnancy and birth.
Keli Lane gave up baby to chase goal
'Successful golden girl' turned killer to keep secret, court told
surely they had a break - the trial began August 10.
'Successful golden girl' turned killer to keep secret, court told
November 22, 2010 - 2:35PM
Keli Lane hid her pregnancies and the births of three children because she did not want to dent her image as a "successful golden girl", the Supreme Court heard today.
With Ms Lane on trial charged with murdering her second baby, Tegan, the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, began his closing address before the jury.
Mr Tedeschi said Ms Lane had a successful, even enviable life. She enjoyed a good relationship with her parents, with whom she lived on the northern beaches; she was an elite water polo player who had represented Australia; she had a good education, a large circle of friends and "no shortage of boyfriends".
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But Mr Tedeschi said there was unchallenged evidence that, over seven years in the 1990s, while supposedly being on the pill, Ms Lane fell pregnant five times.
All the pregnancies were unwanted, Mr Tedeschi said.
The first two were terminated but "three times she didn't realise she was pregnant until it was too late".
Ms Lane put her first and third children up for adoption but is accused of murdering Tegan two days after her birth in September 1996.
Ms Lane, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Tegan, maintaining she gave the newborn to the baby's natural father. Neither Tegan nor the man Ms Lane named as the father, an Andrew Norris or Morris, has been located.
Mr Tedeschi said Ms Lane never had any intention of taking the babies home, and sought solutions that would permanently relieve her of the responsibility of caring for them.
She succeeded in hiding the pregnancies and births from everyone in her life by allegedly telling "numerous lies".
"She was not prepared to run any risk of denting this image she had of herself, that she believed other people had of her, of being this successful golden girl," Mr Tedeschi told the court.
"She was completely and utterly determined to prevent these hidden parts of her life, involving these three children, becoming known to her family, her friends, her colleagues, her sporting mates."
The trial continues.
TV channel offers $500k reward
Lane hopes reward will prove her innocence
April 4, 2011 - 10:38AM
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Keli Lane has protested her innocence and says police have not done enough to find the daughter she was convicted of murdering.
Speaking publicly for the first time since being convicted, the former water polo champion hopes a $500,000 reward offered by Channel Seven will encourage people to come forward with information on the whereabouts of her daughter Tegan.
In a series of recorded prison phone conversations between Lane and her fiance Patrick Cogan, broadcast on Seven's Sunday Night program, Lane revealed her anger and sadness at the conviction.
Lane was found guilty last December of murdering her second baby, Tegan, on September 14, 1996, after they left a Sydney hospital and before she went to a wedding.
She has always maintained Tegan is in the custody of her biological father, Andrew Norris (or Morris).
Extensive police investigations have failed to locate either Tegan or her father.
"How do they charge someone on the basis they cant find Andrew or they cant find Tegan, if they haven't even completed the searches?" she said.
"They're saying that Andrew Norris didn't exist. Well, I don't know how Tegan came about if he didn't exist. I didn't make her by myself."
Throughout the Sydney trial, it emerged Lane had two terminations as a teenager and kept three later pregnancies and births secret from her friends, family and even her long-term lover.
She adopted out her first and third babies, while she retained custody of a fourth child, whom she had with her ex-husband.
Lane said she felt like she was being punished for adopting her children out.
"You think you're doing the right thing and it's hard to understand why I'm still being raked over the coals for it," she said.
"How does the Crown know what a woman thinks or a woman feels when she's in that situation?"
Lane, who is in prison awaiting sentencing on April 15, said she speaks to her mum and fiance every day, reads, writes and does yoga.
"I keep faith," she said, before dissolving into tears. "[But] I miss everybody. I just want to go home.
"It makes me angry because they've pulled my life apart for 10 years and it's come to this," she said.
"There wasn't even anything there to have a bloody charge."
Criminal lawyer Chris Murphy said the case was the most disturbing he had ever come across.
The case had been "irreparably damaged" by the prosecution implying Lane may have buried Tegan somewhere, he said.
"A jury only makes a best guess," he told Channel Seven.
"They guessed that she killed it, because there is no evidence whatsoever that she killed that baby or that the baby died."
But John Borovnik, the child protection officer whose suspicions on the whereabouts of Tegan led to Lane's conviction, described her as a "cold-blooded killer".
"It takes a lot I believe for somebody to be so organised, be so concealing, be so deceiving, be so conniving and not let anyone else in the world know that she's pregnant," he said.
Lane said she would continue to fight to clear her name.
"I'm not going to be made to say that I did something I didn't do, regardless of how bizarre or odd it is," she said.
"It's not odd because it happened."
AAP
Lane dumped baby in bushland: taxi driver
Lane dumped baby in bushland: taxi driver
A taxi driver has come forward claiming that Sydney woman Keli Lane dumped her baby Tegan in bushland, wrapped up next to a tree with a bottle.
The man got in touch with Lane's criminal lawyer Chris Murphy after her sentencing last week for murdering her newborn daughter.
Mr Murphy said the taxi driver told him he had collected the former water polo champion from Auburn Hospital in Sydney and stopped at her request on River Road on the way to Manly.
"The taxi driver said he stopped the vehicle, she got out of the vehicle and left the baby in an area of houses and bushland," Mr Murphy told Macquarie Radio today.
"She came back without the baby. She said she'd given the baby to a babysitter."
After the taxi driver dropped Lane off in Manly, Mr Murphy said he noticed she left a baby bag with nappies in the back of the car.
"He called out to her that she'd left the stuff behind, she said 'I don't need it and left'.
"He said his suspicions were aroused."
The cab driver told the lawyer he then decided to take the clothes to the babysitter.
"He went back to the spot where she had left the vehicle. He said that he - in bush near where she got out of the car - he found the baby wrapped next to a tree and there was a baby bottle there," Mr Murphy said.
"He said there was a woman at the scene that he was talking to."
The driver told the woman he was going to contact police but she said she would look after the baby and he handed her over.
Mr Murphy said he was inclined to believe the driver was telling the truth as he told Mr Murphy that he wasn't interested in making money from the story and he just wanted to do the right thing.
The lawyer said the man also claimed to have gone to the court last Friday, where he spoke to an Inspector Grace who told him not to talk to the media. He then spoke to the defence.
"Now I can't tell you if that's true or not but he is going to talk to police this week," Mr Murphy said.
"If he tells a story to police that are lies he'll be charged with create public mischief and we've all been part of a horrible injustice."
Lane was last week jailed for at least 13 years and five months for murdering Tegan more than 14 years ago.
AAP
