Unsolved: Jane Furlong.
A man tells police he saw Jane Furlong a day after her disappearance, being escorted through Port Waikato’s sand dunes by a group of men carrying a spade. On the anniversary of the unsolved murder, Kelly Dennett examines his story, and considers the fallibility of memory. The scene made him so uncomfortable, he says, that he documented it. Surreptitiously turned the flash off on his black Olympus camera, told his wife to pose, and hit snap. Where that photo is now is anyone’s guess, but if it still exists – and captures what he believes he saw – it could hold the key to one of New Zealand’s most infamous cold cases.
False memory is a weapon often used to discredit sexual assault survivors
Psychologists say survivors do not forget their horrific experiences. They may try to not remember, but completely forgetting is extremely unlikely.
(Image: Fernanda Latronico/Pexels)
Memory is contentious, that much is clear. Those who have experienced trauma often have patchy memories: dissociation is common, as is freezing and becoming immobile.
But the idea that someone can simply forget then remember an instance of abuse, having previously remembered nothing, is not one supported by professionals, and has not been a common claim for decades.
Yet false memory syndrome has been used to discredit survivors time and again in recent years. Lawyers for Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein have all called in experts on false memory to give expert testimony at their trials.
SA s Abdool Karim wins top award for standing up for science during COVID-19 Along with Antony Fauci, South African epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim has won the prestigious John Maddox Prize 2020 for going beyond the line of duty . Infectious disease specialist Professor Salim Abdool Karim. Picture: @UKZN/Twitter.
113 days ago
JOHANNESBURG - South African epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim has been announced as the joint winner of the John Maddox Prize for 2020.
Along with Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, Karim was on Monday recognised for going beyond the line of duty as government advisors on health . Karim is advising the government on its COVID-19 response.