Justice Denied: An Investigation Into the Death of Jaidyn Leskie

by Robin Bowles

Jaidyn Leskie was the child of Bilynda Williams and Brett Leskie, kidnapped and murdered in Australia in 1997. Despite leads, and the arrest and trial of a prime suspect, Leskie's murder remains unsolved. Despite deciding in 2002 not to hold an inquest into the toddler's death, the case remained in the news for several more years and an inquest was held in 2006 implicating the mother's boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Audiobook

407 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading Robin Bowles' books because her research is much more thorough than most writers of non-fiction. She always manages to raise questions that the police never thought to ask and find leads which were never investigated. This book even lead to a new inquest into the death of Jaidyn Leskie. In regard to this crime, I was one of those Australians that thought that Greg Domaszewicz was guilty and couldn't understand the aquittal, but after reading this I understand why the jury came to the verdict that they did. The case was much more circumstantial than the police would admit and there is reasonable doubt there. The only fault was that I found parts of the book to be repetitive and thought that other parts dragged on uncecessarily. I love my law but even I was getting bored at times. Justice Denied is the perfect title for this story though; whoever commited this awful crime seems to have got away with it and the police have simply stopped looking.

[Bronny · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was amazing. all the bogans from moe! omg. so good. apart from that, the writer does some investigative work and raises some interesting questions about who the real killer was.

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very tragic and bizarre case that I had never heard of until it was covered by Insight Podcast. I wanted to know more about it and found this book. However, I have to say about this book what I would also say about "The Staircase" documentary that covers the Michael Peterson case-in order to like this, you have to be interested in really in depth coverage of legal proceedings. A big chunk of this book reads like a court transcript. In documentary form, I would find that interesting but in book form I did not. The part of the book that doesn't cover the trial mostly focuses on the author and is almost more like a memoir of what she did to investigate the case, which I was not really interested in. The book does tell the story of the sad disappearance and murder of little Jaidyn and makes the case that the police had tunnel vision and focused on the wrong person-which does seem plausible-but the form in which it is told is just not engrossing for a good true crime read.

[Bustagroovy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was funny to hear the narrator speak with the Moe dialect. I'd always assumed Greg Domaszewicz was guilty but it turns out I was only aware of about half of what actually happened. This book was so in depth and there are so many unanswered questions.

The investigation had no hope though with everyone involved lying (even the police - Fraser) and changing their statements constantly. Clearly someone was in the house while Greg was away, most likely using a key and not through the broken window. Someone was playing music (Slice of Heaven) to cover up Jaidyn's crying. Someone smoked a cigarette and left the butt there. And someone threw the pig's head back out the window. There is no way Greg D did this, well done jury. Very educational!

[Annie Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about this incredibly frustrating case. Sadly 20 odd years on the killer of little Jaidyn Leskie has still not been brought to justice. Do I think Greg Domaszewicz was guilty? No. Read the book and decide for yourself.

[Shaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad story especially because I am from the area and familiar with the story. Raises many questions. Extremely brave on the part of Robin to attempt to discover answers.

[Holly Kildare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago, and recently re-read it. Robin’s writing style, and investigative skills kept me engrossed, and lost quite a few hours in my sleep bank as I couldn’t put this book down.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and thorough book but at times it was repetitive and difficult to read. I have to admit I skipped parts of the book because it was slow to read and hard to follow. Normally I'm a huge fan of true crime and devour them in one sitting but I couldn't get in to reading this one, even though I really wanted to. Finally 'finished' it after 4 months after having to skip sections to get through it.

[Liv Chez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

[Jen Roe · Rating 5 out of 5]

poor little Jaidyn a very sad book

[Kirsteen Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read...gets you thinking

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book changed my mind...

[Fez]

I couldn't finish this.. Got up to the autopsy and that's as far as I made it... Poor Jaidyn.. Hope you get your justice one day little fella... RIP