Evil Angels

Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor Michael Chamberlain, his wife Lindy Chamberlain, their two sons, and their nine-week-old daughter Azaria are on a camping holiday in the Australian Outback. After visiting Ayers Rock, with baby Azaria now asleep in their tent, the family enjoys a barbecue with their fellow campers when a cry is heard. Lindy returns to the tent to check and is certain she sees a dingo with something in its mouth running off as she approaches. When she discovers the infant missing, everyone joins forces to search for her, without success. It is assumed what Lindy saw was the animal carrying Azaria, and a subsequent inquest rules her account of events as true. However, the tide of public opinion soon turns against the Chamberlains. For many, Lindy seems too stoic, cold-hearted, and accepting of the disaster that has befallen the family. Gossip about her begins to swell and soon is accepted as statements of fact. The couple's religious beliefs are not widely practiced in the country, and when the media report a rumour that the name Azaria means "sacrifice in the wilderness", the public is quick to believe they decapitated their baby with a pair of scissors as part of a bizarre religious rite. Law-enforcement officials find new witnesses, forensics experts, and circumstantial evidence and reopen the investigation, eventually charging Lindy with murder. Seven months pregnant, she ignores her attorneys' advice to play to the jury's sympathy and appears stoic on the stand, convincing some onlookers of her guilt. As the trial progresses, Michael's faith in his religion and his belief in his wife falter, and he stumbles through his testimony, suggesting he is concealing the truth. In October 1982, Lindy is found guilty and immediately sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour, while Michael is found guilty as an accessory and given an 18-month suspended sentence. More than three years later, while searching for the body of an English tourist who fell from Uluru, police discover a dingo lair with clothing that is identified as the jacket Lindy had insisted Azaria was wearing over her jumpsuit, which had been recovered early in the investigation. Lindy is immediately released from prison, the case is reopened and all convictions against the Chamberlains are overturned.

Plot from Evil Angels (film)CC BY-SA 4.0