It was every parent's worst nightmare. On 29 November 1990, Harry Manley, the 22-month-old son of Sydney couple Johnathan and Mary Manley, mysteriously died from a ruptured bowel caused by a blow to his abdomen.
But how could it happen?
It was a question that haunted his parents until 20 April 1991, when Johnathan Manley was charged with murder.
Manley always maintained his innocence, but at his trial the jury was faced with complex medical evidence in which the prosecution argued that a dark shadow on the child's face in post-mortem photographs was in fact a bruise caused by Manley stifling his son's screams. Conflicting evidence that pointed to his innocence was alos presented, but the jury, convinced by the prosecution evidence, delivered a guilty verdict.
Like Lindy Chamberlain, who successfully fought to overturn her wrongful conviction when everything seemed stacked against her, Manley had his conviction overturned due to 'unsafe and unsatisfactory evidence' presented in the original trial and was returned to his loving family.