A scientist wrote to her team leader as far back as 2020 with serious concerns she had with the testing of crime scene DNA samples in Queensland, but they "were not taken seriously", an inquiry has heard.
Reporting scientist Alicia Quartermain told an inquiry into the state's forensic DNA testing laboratory she first became worried about high thresholds for DNA processing in 2019, particularly in sexual assault cases.
"Sometimes there were sexual assault swabs that sperm had been seen under the microscope and had returned a result of DNA insufficient for further processing, and that was a concern to me," Ms Quartermain said.
