Acquittal in didgeridoo DNA case

An Adelaide man has had his murder conviction quashed after the High Court ruled that DNA on a didgeridoo did not prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Daniel Glenn Fitzgerald, 27, was found guilty of murdering Kym Drover, 22, and causing serious harm to Leon Karpany during a home invasion in June 2011.

The crown alleged he was part of a group which forced its way into the Elizabeth South house and attacked the men with weapons including a gardening fork and a pole.

Mr Fitzgerald, who was jailed for a minimum of 20 years, unsuccessfully challenged his conviction in the SA Court of Criminal Appeal.

But in June he was released after the High Court quashed the conviction and entered a verdict of acquittal, delivering its reasons on Wednesday.

The prosecution had relied on DNA evidence obtained from a didgeridoo found at the crime scene to establish Mr Fitzgerald's involvement in the attack.

It was alleged the DNA derived from his blood and was transferred by him to the didgeridoo at the time of the attack.

But the High Court ruled that the contention that Mr Fitzerald's DNA was derived from blood was not made beyond reasonable doubt.

Secondly, the recovery of his DNA did not raise any inference about the time when, or the circumstances in which, it was deposited there.

The defence had raised the possibility that an attacker had transferred Mr Fitzgerald's DNA onto the didgeridoo, after shaking hands with him the night before.

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Acquittal in didgeridoo DNA case