On Friday, 24th June 2005, the father of Sydney woman Keli Lane told the New South Wales Cororon's Court he was shocked to learn that his daughter had given birth to three children without his knowledge. An inquest was being held into the disappearance of one of those children Tegan. Robert Lane gave evidence about a grand daughter he did not know he had until January 2004. He told the court he believed that his daughter had given baby Tegan to her father, a man she named as Andrew Norris. He agreed that the situation was surreal and bizarre and said he and his wife were shocked to learn that Keli had given birth to three children they didn't know about.
Fast forward five years to yesterday, 8th August 2010 at the Supreme Court. Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC began his opening address. A jury of 14 - two more than normal - were chosen due to the expected length of the trial. Keli Lane is accused of murdering her baby daughter Tegan when she was two days old after being discharged from hospital in 1996. She has pleaded not guilty.
This is going to be another trial by media, just like the Lindy Chamberlain case with blow by blow accounts of what happened in court every day. It's just come to light that the women on the jury of Lindy Chamberlain were convinced of her guilt but the men had to be talked around. I get the feeling those same women want to find Keli Lane guilty.
Prosecutor Tedesci said "Over the course of seven years, from 1992 to 1999 the accused became pregnant no less than five times - in fact she became pregnant four times in five years". The first two pregnancies were terminated, the third and fifth were adopted and the fourth was baby Tegan, the court heard. The Crown would allege it was Ms Lane's "over-riding ambition" to represent Australia at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 in her chosen sport of water polo that led to her "not wanting to be saddled with the responsibility of having a child".
Keli Lane comes from a popular sporting family who live in seaside suburb of Manly. Keli's father was a successful rugby union coach and Keli was an elite water polo player, representing her state and country. Living at home with her parents, incredibly, they had no idea she had ever been pregnant - having a fuller figure, she somehow disguised it very well. She would wrap a towel around herself, sit on the edge of the pool and take the towel off as she slipped into the water.
Keli chose a hospital in Auburn to have baby Tegan, as far away from Manly as she could possibly get. It would be highly unlikely she would encounter any friends or family in this part of Sydney.
So the mystery remains - she got pregnant five times in seven years. She had two terminations, two were adopted but her last child Tegan, can't be accounted for. Now Prosecutor Tedeschi has to prove that she killed her and without a body, it won't be easy.
It is a truly bizarre case isn't it? If it was a movie, I'd be scoffing in disbelief, "yeah, like that would ever happen".
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be surprisingly little info published about her side of the story. She might have given the baby to a family in Perth? She might have given the baby to the biological father? The biological father might be some guy called Andrew? It reads like she’s misplaced her purse, not a newborn baby.
I hope some answers are unearthed during this trial. This women really need to be held to account.
i just renewed my kids passports and had to supply birth certificates as well. one i could find. I had to go buy another. they have changed and they have changed because of tegan lane. it seems that there were loopholes in proceedures.
ReplyDeletemy kids have 3 passports due to parents and grandparents.
who hasn't met for instance a greek who has a changed family name. andrew is also a pretty common greek name. if the father was greek then the child is entitled to a greek passport.
i think with computers and scanners it is easy enough to change a document. would a foreign legation be as meticulous at verifying a birth certificate?
i cannot understand why adopt out babies one and three and kill number 2.
I believe tegan is alive and living in another country
I had for instance a greek friend whose father changed their surname. she had an australian passport in the changed name but the greeks would not accept the name change and so her greek passport was the original greek name.
there are so many nationalities here in australia. I don't think the police were thinking outside the box.
if someone has tegan then they must have falsified a birth certificate for the passport and that is a criminal offence. they will not come forward