The High Court has answered the question once and for all: Gerard Baden-Clay murdered his wife Allison.
The five-judge bench of the High Court on Wednesday morning unanimously ruled in favour of an appeal by Queensland prosecutors to overturn a decision to downgrade Baden-Clay's conviction to manslaughter.
The ruling marks the end of a four-and-a-half year saga for the high-profile criminal case, which has captured the public’s attention since the mother-of-three went missing in April 2012.
"Today's decision in the High Court comes with relief and elation," family friend Kerry Anne Walker said in a prepared statement read outside the court in Canberra.
"Despite many Queenslanders being labelled as ignorant when they protested the downgrade to manslaughter, the common sense of the original jury has prevailed and justice for Allison has finally been realised."
Ms Walker said her late friend’s legacy would endure through her daughters and described her as an “amazing woman” who loved being a wife and mother.
Queensland's Court of Appeal downgraded Baden-Clay's murder conviction to manslaughter in December last year on the grounds prosecutors had failed to put forward to the jury at his trial the possibility that the real-estate agent killed his wife unintentionally.
The High Court on Wednesday rejected that decision.
Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts said the case showed Australia's legal system was working.
“The wheels of justice grind slowly but they do grind exceedingly fine,” he said.
But he shied away from criticism of the Court of Appeal and said the matter was not a “competition between good or bad, right or wrong”.
"The best of all possible minds can disagree about fundamental things and that is so in the justice,” he said.
Baden-Clay’s lawyer Peter Shields was disappointed in the outcome and said the High Court's decision would likely have been different if his client hadn't given evidence at his own trial.
He said the decision would have "massive" consequences for every trial in the country, particularly in relation to whether defendants chose to give evidence.
"It must affect every criminal trial throughout the Commonwealth," he said.
"The High Court decision that was handed down today is now in place and will affect trials that commence tomorrow."
Alison's body was found on a creek bank in April 2012, 10 days after her husband reported her missing from their Brisbane home.
Baden-Clay was charged with her murder about two months later and is currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years.
