ID :
24209
Mon, 10/13/2008 - 18:11
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/24209
The shortlink copeid
Britt`s parents to seek another DNA test
The family of backpacker Britt Lapthorne has started to plan her funeral, while also arranging for independent DNA tests to make sure a body found in Croatia is hers. Elke Lapthorne was grieving for her 21-year-old daughter at her rural property north of Melbourne on Monday and did not speak publicly.
But a family member told AAP she was starting to plan a funeral and organise another DNA test to ensure the accuracy of results in Croatia, which found the body was Britt's.
The university student's father Dale, and brother Darren, who are in Croatia, are anxiously awaiting autopsy results which could shed some light on how she died. The family member said both men were expected to return to Australia from Dubrovnik with the body within the next couple of days.
Croatian police announced last Friday that the body found by a local fisherman in the Adriatic Sea was that of Ms Lapthorne, who was last seen a few hundred metres away at the Latino Club Fuego nightclub on September 18.
The family was initially advised by police that the badly decomposed body, which was without legs and missing an arm, was unlikely to be the young tourist.
Dale Lapthorne believes there are many unanswered questions over his daughter's death.
"I'm really anxious about the autopsy report," he said.
"I want an assurance that it's being treated as a foul play incident ... I just want
a logical, reasonable explanation."
He said he would seek fresh opinions about the cause of death depending on the
outcome of the Croatian autopsy.
"At the moment I'm saying it is my daughter, I accept the fact that it is my
daughter and we are bringing my daughter home," Mr Lapthorne told the Nine Network
on Monday.
"But we are holding the right to have a second opinion both on the DNA testing and
the autopsy depending on the autopsy results."
The family reject any suggestion that she jumped or fell off the cliff above the
cove where the body was found.
Detectives in Dubrovnik reportedly have interviewed 340 witnesses from the
nightclub, some of whom saw Ms Lapthorne leave at 3.30am on the morning of September
18.
One of the witnesses was a Croatian woman who saw her laughing and dancing with an
English-speaking man for most of the evening, right up to the time she departed, ABC
Radio reported.
A woman who travelled with Ms Lapthorne in Europe said delays in responding to her
disappearance could have cost her her life.
Tara Reynolds said it took the Australian government five days to tell the Lapthorne
family that Croatian authorities had reported her missing.
"It's those kind of actions early on that could have cost this girl's life," she
told ABC Radio from London.
"It warrants a big inquiry. I don't know how that will all pan out in the future.
But it's disgusting. Who knows if anything was taken up earlier we could have had a
different outcome."
The family member who spoke to AAP said Dale and Darren Lapthorne were expected to
return to Australia from Dubrovnik with the body within the next couple of days.
But a family member told AAP she was starting to plan a funeral and organise another DNA test to ensure the accuracy of results in Croatia, which found the body was Britt's.
The university student's father Dale, and brother Darren, who are in Croatia, are anxiously awaiting autopsy results which could shed some light on how she died. The family member said both men were expected to return to Australia from Dubrovnik with the body within the next couple of days.
Croatian police announced last Friday that the body found by a local fisherman in the Adriatic Sea was that of Ms Lapthorne, who was last seen a few hundred metres away at the Latino Club Fuego nightclub on September 18.
The family was initially advised by police that the badly decomposed body, which was without legs and missing an arm, was unlikely to be the young tourist.
Dale Lapthorne believes there are many unanswered questions over his daughter's death.
"I'm really anxious about the autopsy report," he said.
"I want an assurance that it's being treated as a foul play incident ... I just want
a logical, reasonable explanation."
He said he would seek fresh opinions about the cause of death depending on the
outcome of the Croatian autopsy.
"At the moment I'm saying it is my daughter, I accept the fact that it is my
daughter and we are bringing my daughter home," Mr Lapthorne told the Nine Network
on Monday.
"But we are holding the right to have a second opinion both on the DNA testing and
the autopsy depending on the autopsy results."
The family reject any suggestion that she jumped or fell off the cliff above the
cove where the body was found.
Detectives in Dubrovnik reportedly have interviewed 340 witnesses from the
nightclub, some of whom saw Ms Lapthorne leave at 3.30am on the morning of September
18.
One of the witnesses was a Croatian woman who saw her laughing and dancing with an
English-speaking man for most of the evening, right up to the time she departed, ABC
Radio reported.
A woman who travelled with Ms Lapthorne in Europe said delays in responding to her
disappearance could have cost her her life.
Tara Reynolds said it took the Australian government five days to tell the Lapthorne
family that Croatian authorities had reported her missing.
"It's those kind of actions early on that could have cost this girl's life," she
told ABC Radio from London.
"It warrants a big inquiry. I don't know how that will all pan out in the future.
But it's disgusting. Who knows if anything was taken up earlier we could have had a
different outcome."
The family member who spoke to AAP said Dale and Darren Lapthorne were expected to
return to Australia from Dubrovnik with the body within the next couple of days.
