Murder of Bob Chappell

Robert Adrian Chappell, the de facto partner of Susan Blyth "Sue" Neill-Fraser, disappeared from their yacht, Four Winds.

Bob Chappell (65), a radiation oncology medical physicist from Hobart, and his partner of 18 years, Susan Neill-Fraser (born 3 March 1954), were the owners of a 16-metre (53 foot) ketch called Four Winds.

[1][2] From about 9 am on 26 January 2009, Chappell was on the yacht while it was moored in the River Derwent off Marieville Esplanade, Sandy Bay for the purpose of working on it.

Neill-Fraser was with him for a short time in the morning and returned at about 2 pm, using the yacht's tender, a white inflatable dinghy.

[1] Between 11:30 pm and midnight on 26 January, witness John Hughes was parked at the end of rowing sheds at Marieville Esplanade when he saw and heard an inflatable dinghy with an outboard on the back coming from the direction of the Royal Yacht Club, heading northeast towards the Eastern Shore of the Derwent, roughly towards Four Winds.

[1] On 28 January 2009 Neill-Fraser made a statutory declaration in which she said that after tying up the dinghy at the Royal Yacht Club she went to Bunnings Warehouse for a long time, although she did not buy anything, just browsed.

She said she drove in, turned left and parked facing the building, arriving at roughly 4:40 pm at the main entrance near the checkouts.

[1] Later in that interview she maintained that she did not leave her home on the night of 26 January after receiving the telephone call from Richard King.

[1] Chappell's sister Caroline Sanchez gave evidence that on either 8 or 10 March 2009, she had a telephone conversation with Neill-Fraser, in the course of which Neill-Fraser told her that on the night of 26 January she was disturbed or anxious about the content of the telephone call from Richard King and had driven down to Sandy Bay, looked across at the yacht, but it was in darkness, and then drove back.

[1] On 23 March 2009, Caroline Sanchez had another telephone conversation with Neill-Fraser in which the appellant said that although she had driven down to Marieville Esplanade that night, she left the car there and walked back home to West Hobart for the exercise.

[1] In that interview, Neill-Fraser was told that the red jacket police had shown her on the morning of 27 January was in fact hers because it contained her DNA.

During the trial it emerged that police had bugged Neill-Fraser's home and obtained some 768 hours' worth of recordings, none of which was played to the court.

She confirmed she had no memory of going to a shipyard in Negara Crescent, Goodwood called Cleanlift Marine and agreed that she had never been there in her life.

[1] Her evidence concluded with testimony that she had never been to the industrial premises called Cleanlift Marine at Negara Crescent at Goodwood, and most definitely was not there in late January or early February 2009.

Since she had given evidence, counsel had received information that Detective Sinnitt had been informed by a member of staff at a women's shelter in New Town that Vass was listed as a person who would be staying there on the evening of 26 January 2009, but she had told the staff that she wanted to sleep over at Unit 8 at an address she gave at Mount Nelson.

In closing arguments, Ellis SC argued that: On 15 October 2010, Neill-Fraser was found guilty by unanimous verdict.

It was specifically argued that the fact that the DNA profile from the yacht matched that of Vass raised two possibilities in support of the defence case.

The Court of Criminal Appeal rejected the argument that a miscarriage of justice had occurred as a result of the failure to recall Vass.

[10] Following an amendment to the Criminal Code Act 1924, Neill-Fraser was allowed to seek leave for a second appeal on the basis of “fresh and compelling evidence”.

[12] When the Court came to receive sworn evidence from Meaghan Vass on the appeal, she denied ever having been on Four Winds on Australia Day or at any other time, and could provide no explanation as to how DNA matching hers was found on the yacht.

[15] The court also heard from forensic expert Maxwell Jones, who testified that the DNA match to Vass was likely the result of a primary deposit of her biological fluid, and not from a momentary touch or a secondary transfer.

[16] After the court had adjourned to consider its decision on the leave application, Vass gave an interview with Nine Network's 60 Minutes, in which she admitted detailed knowledge of events on the yacht apparently leading to the death of Chappell.

The airing of the interview was followed by an application to reopen Neill-Fraser's case, which was granted, with a further affidavit from Vass being read into evidence.

[17] Justice Helen Wood later ordered that the Nine Network deliver up to Neill-Fraser's solicitors all video footage, including material not used when Vass' interview went to air.

[18] As a consequence of a further police investigation prior to the hearing of the leave application, three other persons were charged with offences connected with the obtaining of evidence exculpatory of Neill-Fraser.

Solicitor Jeffrey Thompson was charged with perverting the course of justice as a result of a photoboard identification procedure conducted by him with a potential eyewitness, Stephen Gleeson.

In practical terms, in the circumstances of this case, I would need to be satisfied that there is a reasonable possibility that the Court of Criminal Appeal would accept the said evidence as credible and providing a trustworthy basis for fact-finding.

All I remember was seeing a lot of blood and arguing for about 30 minutes.”[28][29] Under cross-examination by Director of Public Prosecutions, Darryl Coates SC, Vass conceded that she had never even been on Four Winds at all, and alleged that she had been continually harassed since 2016 to testify and exonerate Neill-Fraser.

[33][34] On 30 November 2021, the Court handed down its decision, with Justices Helen Wood and Robert Pearce dismissing the appeal by majority.

[36] On 30 August 2021 Mike Gaffney MLC for Mersey tabled a series documents in Parliament that he said illustrated Neill-Fraser was denied justice because of an inadequate police investigation and false evidence put before the jury: "We have all had the benefit of a full expose, the results of years of RTI requests, the seeking of expert advice and detailed forensic analysis… Mr President, our courts have been misled, a woman has been incarcerated for 12 years as a consequence.”[37] On 16 September 2022, it was announced that the Parole Board of Tasmania had granted Neill-Fraser parole.