Graham Burrows, professor of psychiatry at 바카라사이트 University of Melbourne, appeared as a defence witness for Arthur Freeman, who threw his four-year-old daughter off 바카라사이트 Victorian state capital's West Gate Bridge.
He testified that 바카라사이트 accused was mentally ill and did not know what he was doing, but was 바카라사이트 only one of six experts to find that 바카라사이트 defendant had a mental illness.
Freeman was subsequently found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail.
However, in a move that has sparked a heated debate about academic freedom, Julian McGauran, 바카라사이트 Liberal senator for Victoria, said Melbourne should sack Professor Burrows for giving "concocted" evidence.
Senator McGauran used parliamentary privilege, which protects politicians from being sued for defamation, to call on Glyn Davis, vice-chancellor of Melbourne, to put aside "excuses like academic freedom or acting outside 바카라사이트 university's jurisdiction".
He went on to accuse Professor Burrows of being a "gun for hire" and a "psychiatrist of last resort...who will sing whatever song 바카라사이트 defence wants".
A spokesman for Melbourne said witness testimony was a matter for 바카라사이트 court, not 바카라사이트 university. However, Senator McGauran's intervention has outraged many.
Jeannie Rea, president of 바카라사이트 National Tertiary Education Union in Australia, told 온라인 바카라 that it was "entirely inappropriate" for 바카라사이트 senator to call for Professor Burrows' sacking.
"If 바카라사이트 university did pursue it, it would be an abuse of academic freedom," she said. "This is a situation where 바카라사이트 academic is acting in terms of his professional expertise, as many academics do as witnesses in court proceedings."
Simon Wessely, vice-dean of academic psychiatry at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, agreed: "For a politician to call for an expert witness to be sacked is clearly out of order and a blatant attempt to intimidate."
While experts "have a duty not to give incompetent or erroneous evidence...that is a matter for 바카라사이트 courts, not for a politician and not for a vice-chancellor", Professor Wessely said.
He added that "it is already permissible for a judge to make unfavourable comments should he or she believe that 바카라사이트 expert gave evidence that was unprofessional". "A judge can in effect make it impossible for an expert to appear again," he said.
Judge 'not keen' on maligned professor
Graham Burrows is a professor of psychiatry with more than 40 years' experience in 바카라사이트 field who has appeared numerous times as witness for prosecution and defence teams.
As 바카라사이트 sole defence witness in Arthur Freeman's trial, he told 바카라사이트 jury that 바카라사이트 defendant had suffered a "major depressive disorder" and was in a "severe dissociative state" when he threw his daughter to her death.
Professor Burrows said he had tested Freeman's susceptibility to hypnosis using 바카라사이트 Stanford hypnotic clinical scale and had found it to be at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 measure.
According to The Age newspaper, Supreme Court Justice Paul Coghlan told 바카라사이트 defence counsel in Professor Burrows' presence that he was "not fond" of 바카라사이트 witness.
But he added that he "took great care not to let such matters interfere with 바카라사이트 way things went in front of 바카라사이트 jury".
The Age quoted Justice Coghlan as saying that he had not made any comments in court that he had not directly told Professor Burrows "in various ways over 바카라사이트 years".
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