Convicted. Imprisoned. Innocent.
It was every parent's worst nightmare. On 29 November 1990, Harry Hanley, the 22-month-old son of Sydney couple Jonathon 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 Jonathon 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 also presented, but the jury, convinced by the prosecution evidence, delivered a guilty verdict. The judge, in accepting the jury's decision, imposed a sentence of 12 and a half years' imprisonment.
The gentle and religious husband and father kept a prison diary in which he recounted the agony of being separated from his family, the privations of prison life, and the legal battle to clear his name.
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 beloved family.
But his nightmare continues.
The NSW Government has yet to pay compensation to Manley and his family, despite the trauma and heavy financial loss suffered throughout their harrowing ordeal.
'Enemies Without Cause' is the incredible story of one man's personal tragedy and his courageous fight for justice in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
