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UK Expert questions murder DNA

A man accused of attempted murder has called a British DNA expert to cast doubt on the case against him. Noet Barnett, 25, is accused of shooting Jeremiah Dill, 28, in Pembroke Parish, Bermuda last October. In what police classed as a gang-related act of vengeance.

Mr Barnett is now on trial at Hamilton Supreme Court, and denies charges of attempted murder, using a gun to commit attempted murder and handling a firearm.

Earlier the prosecution produced DNA evidence from US-based expert Candy Zuleger. Who indicated that Mr Barnett’s DNA was found, along with other peoples’, on the gun used in the attack. It was also discovered on a pair of gloves and a drawstring bag the items were found in.

However, the defence called UK-based forensic scientist Michael Appleby yesterday, who suggested Ms Zuleger looked at samples that were “unsuitable for meaningful comparison” .

Mr Appleby explained this is because when you test an item that has DNA from multiple people on it, as in the Barnett case, you end up with “sub optimum” and “less than perfect” DNA to work with. All the profiles obtained (by Ms Zuleger) were incomplete, complex and mixed, indicating the presence of DNA from a number of individuals,” said Mr Appleby.

Mr Appleby further suggested that Ms Zuleger examined samples that were contaminated, as the gun and gloves in question were found inside an “extremely well used bag”.

He suggested that because DNA can be transferred by items touching each other, the DNA could have been transferred from the bag as it came into direct contact with the gun and gloves.

According to Mr Appleby, it would not be acceptable in the UK to work on samples like this “in tandem” and “next to each other,”. He said the results would be ruled inadmissible due to the possibility that contamination had occurred.

Mr Appleby, who used for work for the British Forensic Science Service now works for a private firm. He has 32 years in forensic science experience.

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