Blood Territory The Death of Jimmy O'Connell

Mariah Roze

Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars overall
3 stars for performance
2 stars for story


"How far would you go to clear the name of the man convicted of your son’s death?
Red blood stains the red soil of the Australian Northern Territory in this true crime Audible Original Podcast, Blood Territory.
Less than 250,000 people live in the Northern Territory, an area more than twice the size of Texas. If you want to escape from civilisation, you don’t have to go far. But you can’t outrun the heat. Every year during October and November the sweltering climate can drive people wild; they call it ‘Suicide Season’, ‘Mango Madness’ or, more plainly, ‘The Build-up’.
It’s during this blistering heat that Jim O’Connell’s body is found in a creek bed, mummified and with his genitals removed. But when a dubious plea deal buries the truth and puts Jim’s best mate, Philip Mather, behind bars for the crime, the victim’s parents seek to unravel it themselves to prove Philip’s innocence.
Follow journalist Mark Whittaker’s journey into the murky heart of the Northern Territory as allegations of police corruption and judicial racism emerge and a shadowy figure known as The Vigilante lurks on the fringe of the investigation."

BAM the enigma “Ask me if you need help with a book”

Rating: really liked it
Really interesting Audible investigation into a cold case in Australia. That continent has some great crime!

Erin

Rating: really liked it
Audiobook narrated by Mark Whittaker


True crime investigation series surrounding the murder of Australian man, Jimmy O'Connell in the Northern Territory by journalist, Mark Whittaker. Interestingly a man was accused and convicted of this crime but not even the victim's family is convinced that he did it.


I couldn't stop listening but tried to separate my experience into two separate nights to stretch out the story. Very addictive listening!


Goodreads review published 08/11/20

Susan

Rating: really liked it
It was l an interesting listen but it just fell a bit short. I don’t think there’s much to the story in regards to what happened.

It’s a family that has been hurt by the system and police so much that they wouldn’t trust them if they told the sky is blue. I found that part the most sad.

Whether who was responsible for Jimmy’s death, I dunno. It’s hard but perhaps they got the right person but I don’t know.

It’s definitely not like Teachers Pet. There isn’t a lot of people willing to talk or know with confidence what happened. A lot of hearsay to go through.

Overall 3 stars

Kaleah

Rating: really liked it
4 stars!

I'm probably rounding up again, and I was a little deterred from choosing this as an Audible Free Original due to some lackluster reviews, but in the end I'm glad I did. This was quite a wild ride! I think if you are an avid true crime fan you’ll find the complexities of this case interesting, even though it started off a bit slow, and the format is basically a podcast.

I knew absolutely nothing about Australia's Northern Territory, its history of police brutality and corruption, or this case in particular. I knew a little about the mistreatment of its indigenous peoples, but that was about it.

In this story, a man who was a bit of a drifter is found dead and possibly mutilated in the rural Australian Northern Territory. His best friend is later arrested for the murder, and subsequently sentenced and serves his time. What’s interesting about this is that the family of the victim wants to prove the convicted murderer was wrongly accused, and tries to find the real culprit. Thus is the basis of this unofficial investigation.

We’re then taken through an array of possible suspects, which happens to include the same police force working the case, due to a pending lawsuit that both Jimmy, the victim, and his friend and convicted killer, Philip Mather, had against the police department for use of excessive force. Things get even stranger when we find out one of the officers implicated in this lawsuit personally investigated Jimmy's case! The author also touches on other forms of government corruption and rampant racial hostility towards the Aboriginal population. I think for what it is (an investigative podcast), and the mixture of unique location, local customs, and intriguing mystery, this ended up being a good pick.

Girish

Rating: really liked it
I have some questions on investigative podcasts as a basic format. What happens when you set out to investigate a true crime but then you are not able to uncover anything new? You've raised quite a bit of questions on the prosecution case, thrown mud around for 10 episodes and then what do you do when you run out of budget or reach a timeline?

I think Blood Territory is one such end product. The book starts off promising - an arrest in front of a school - the victim's parents are defending their son's killer - Prosecution for 11 years - a veteran journalist is sure there has been a miscarriage of justice.

Mark Whittaker, an award winning Australian journalist, starts his interviews and raises enough doubts on the prosecution case. In fact to a point that he only keeps raising questions on every witness statement. The most crucial clinching episode gets introduced in part 6 - why? And the ending was a disappointment.

The only saving grace is that it was free on audible.

Diana K.

Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars. The series started pretty good and naturally, I got high hopes for the series. Similar to those I had for Evil Has A Name, another Audible crime series. But ultimately, this audiobook came short of anything fascinating. I kept listening and waiting for the big plot twist or the big discovery that the police may have missed. But it wasn’t there. The series was short and ended in a very anticlimactic way. The one piece of solid evidence was investigated to an extent and the conclusions were drawn primarily from this. I just felt that perhaps more could have been done. The audio and voice acting were great, but I would not recommend this book for people. There is just nothing to the series that really might grasp someone...

Blair Hodgkinson

Rating: really liked it
This podcast really doesn't achieve very much or go very far.

Alan Teder

Rating: really liked it
Retroactive True-Crime Investigation
Review of the Audible Original audiobook (August 2019)

Blood Territory is a retroactive true-crime investigation of a 2006 murder near Darwin, Australia in the Northern Territory. Despite the click-baity title and synopsis the leads towards alternative solutions to the crime are not able to resolve the mystery. The main suspect had pled guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in order to avoid a life sentence. He is now out of prison and tells his side of the story which is believed by the victim's parents.

The main revelation of all of this is the apparent level of incompetence by the coroner's office and the police at the time of the initial crime, when it was absurdly categorized as a suicide. The later conspiracy theories of a police vengeance plot and a vigilante retribution seem very far-fetched. There is also a tinge of racism to the story with the suspect being of mixed background. Some interesting points are made about indigenous culture being in conflict with colonial culture such as indigenous cultures discussing things in an indirect rather than direct manner. Also that indigenous culture usually dictates a positive response to questioning, so that interrogation about crimes will invariably produce "yes" answers. Those sorts of aspects did make the story dramatic and interesting and did increase the likelihood of a miscarriage of justice.

Mark Whittaker narrates the story well enough. Many participants and witnesses did not cooperate in the investigation and their statements had to be re-enacted by actors in the studio.

Blood Territory was one of the Audible Originals free gifts to members for the month of March 2020, after which it will revert to regular price. It was originally released in August 2019 for a regular price and available to everyone.

Trivia and Link
A 2009 Australian news report of the case can be read online at the Sydney Morning Herald. The link was active as of March 2020.

Natasha | readwithnatasha

Rating: really liked it
Jimmy O'Connell is missing; 20 days later, his body is found mutilated in a ditch and half mummified. The evidence points to his best friend, Phillip, who later enters a plea deal and gets 11 years. Jimmy's parents don't believe Phillip did it and visited him often in jail. Mark Whittaker decides to revisit this case to see if he can turn up any new evidence.

I liked this Audible original. It wasn't great, but it kept me entertained during a long drive. Because it's set in the northern part of Australia, the accents were sometimes difficult to understand, but Whittaker did a good job of summarizing what was said.

While the ending fell flat for me, I did enjoy learning about this case and the bizarre circumstances around the discovery of Jimmy's body. It's a true crime case I had never heard of and it was definitely a unique one.

I'd recommend this to people who like true crime and want something to listen to quickly.

Jeff

Rating: really liked it
Ne'er-do-well in the Northern Territory with a drug habit and violent tendencies (and possibly a sexual predator) who hangs around with other ne'er-do-wells who do drugs and have violent tendencies finds himself dead - mummified in a dried river bed missing some body parts. Suspect pleads guilty in court. But wait! Maybe the cops killed him, or perhaps a mysterious vigilante.

I think too much was made of the alternative theories, none of which were left unexamined. A single flip-flop found in the same dried river bed! A clue! What could it mean?! I guess this story wouldn't be that interesting if it was presented as the experts determined it happened.

There was some entertaining parts. Some of the characters the author encountered were colorful and edgy. The parents of the murdered man paid thousands of dollars to hire a British psychic to give them vague information. Grown men covet an Esky.

I would've been better off reading the court transcript and police report.

Angus McKeogh

Rating: really liked it
Ho hum. Not much of a mystery. Investigative reporter delves into mystery down under and realizes it’s likely exactly as thought. Definitely not worth running this story down. Free from Audible. So nothing lost I guess.

Linda

Rating: really liked it
This was an interesting look into a potential murder in Australia. It's interviews and known facts about the case. It was interesting to hear and really makes me wonder what really happened.

Ashley

Rating: really liked it
Another interesting audible original true crime story.

Jeff Harris

Rating: really liked it
Felt a bit stretched out.