A Witness of Fact (Drew Rooke, Scribe)

A Witness of Fact examines the controversial public life of South Australia’s former chief forensic pathologist Dr Colin Manock, and his problematic role in the state’s criminal justice system. Manock might be a name mostly unfamiliar to readers outside of SA, yet he’s a man who wielded enormous influence there for decades. We read that ‘according to his own estimate, he helped secure more than 400 convictions and performed approximately 10,000 autopsies’. But where things go wrong is when the senior forensic pathologist lets hubris, bumbling bureaucracy and even wilful ignorance blind his perspective. Readers learn how Manock may have sent innocent people to prison and misjudged several Indigenous deaths (perhaps because of bias), owing greatly to his ‘highly particularised’ assessments. Sometimes his seemingly scientific conclusions simply mistook tragedy for criminality. Author Drew Rooke is an accomplished writer, with an eye for detail and a talent for storytelling, and his profile of Manock is captivating to read. There’s a pleasure in seeing how detail-oriented and dispassionate Rooke can be in his own assessments, mirroring much the same clinical approach Manock attempted (and sometimes failed) to subscribe to with his coronial decisions. While Rooke never comes face-to-face with Manock to directly interrogate this enigmatic personality, A Witness of Fact still charts compelling territory. It offers readers a sobering look at a figure who had significant influence on criminal justice in Australia for perhaps far too long.

Nathan Smith is a freelance writer. 

Category: Reviews