The Hidden Pain

Darryl Beamish

Convicted of murder in 1961, Darryl Beamish, a deaf and non-verbal man, endured 45 years before his conviction was quashed – the longest period between conviction and exoneration in Australia. Just 18 at the time of the crime, he was initially sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. Despite serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke confessing to the crime, Beamish filed a record six appeals, serving 15 years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2005.

Accused of the 1959 axe murder of 22-year-old socialite Jillian Brewer in her Perth apartment, Beamish was prosecuted based solely on a confession coerced by police, who took advantage of his deafness and inability to speak. His conviction rested on four separate confessions, which were later found to have been obtained through threats and manipulation. Police ignored inconsistencies between his statements and the crime scene, including how the murderer allegedly entered the apartment. In 1963, serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke – already convicted of multiple murders – provided a detailed confession to Brewer’s killing – one of more than six murders he admitted to. Despite this, authorities dismissed the confession as a fabrication. Cooke was hanged in 1964, while Beamish remained in prison, his repeated appeals denied. In 1977, after serving 15 years, he was released, but his conviction stood.

It wasn’t until 2002, after John Button had been exonerated for another Cooke murder, that Beamish found renewed hope. Journalist Estelle Blackburn’s book Broken Lives exposed the flaws in both cases and with legal representation from Tom Percy KC, and Jonathon Davies, he lodged a final appeal. On April 1, 2005, the Western Australian Court of Appeal overturned his conviction in the same courthouse where he had once been sentenced to death. Despite spending 45 years as a convicted murderer, Beamish has received no official apology.

Portrait and comments by courtesy of Sky Parra

Part of an affidavit by the Reverent Jenkins, who was his minister at his hanging. The Rev. realised that this was a deathbed confession and took steps to make it known to the crown. He handed it to the crown prosecutor, a week after Cooke’s execution, with the statement that it was a deathbed confession and must be taken seriously.

It never was.

It took Estelle Blackburn to uncover it in the archives, 35 years later.

Why Courts Sometimes Give It Strong Weight

Historically and doctrinally, common law recognised a maxim akin to:

“Nemo moriturus praesumitur mentiri” — a person about to die is not presumed to lie.

The rationale includes:

• Psychological assumption that imminent death removes incentives for deceit

• Moral / religious gravity traditionally associated with final statements

The appeal court in 2005 confirmed the importance of this deathbed confession.

However, it seems to us that when regard is had to the fresh evidence of the Reverend Jenkins, supported by the other matters to which we have referred, it cannot be said that Cooke's gallows confession is so incredible that a reasonable jury could not accept it as true. Rather, it seems to us that Cooke's confession is capable of giving rise to a reasonable doubt in the mind of the jury and that, when that confession is considered in combination with all of the other evidence, particularly that to which we have referred under this heading, there is a significant possibility that a jury, acting reasonably, would have acquitted Beamish.

In the documentary on STAN, “After the Night” Daryl explained how the detectives had asked him, through their police interpreter, to copy out a page of writing that they had prepared for him, in his own writing and sign it. It was a full confession. Their interpreter never warned him or explained the consequences. Daryl, just wanting to help the police, did what they told him.