INDECENT ASSAULT LAWYERS | SEX OFFENCE| RAPE OFFENCE
Introduction
If you have been charged with a sex offence, you will need to talk to an indecent assault lawyer immediately. Indecent assault (or sexual assault), sexual abuse, indecent assault against children and rape are all very serious crimes, which are punished severely by the courts. Depending on the nature of your indecent assault charge or rape charge, you could be prosecuted and sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison.
Indeed, sexual offences carry some of the strictest penalties in Australia.
Statistics gathered by Victoria Police show an increase in rape offences in Victoria over the last year. There were 2,144 rape offences reported in 2014, up 3.7% from the previous year. The Crime Statistics Agency of Victoria has also revealed that sexual offences in general increased by 9.5% in 2014. There were over 10,000 reported instances of sexual assault in Victoria in 2014. Statistics also show there were over 2,000 sex offences in the eastern suburbs alone: nearly 700 of these were rape in Melbourne’s east.
If you have been charged with a sexual offence, you should contact one of our specialist sex offence lawyers immediately. Dribbin & Brown Criminal Lawyers have offices in Dandenong, Frankston, Moorabbin, Ringwood the Melbourne CBD, Geelong & Ballarat. Sex offence lawyers are available at all of our office locations.
These experts in criminal law will be able to assist you with understanding your charges, offer you advice, and represent you at court. If you have been charged with indecent assault, rape or any other sexual offence, you should contact one of our experienced criminal lawyers immediately.
Example
The following example was extracted from an article in Victorian newspaper The Age, 9 September 2014.
A man was arrested and charged by police for allegedly raping a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Ringwood. The man had stalked the girl and then accosted her while she was walking home from school. The incident was particularly serious, because not only did the accused man rape the victim, but he threatened her with a knife. He also told a witness that he would kill her if she ran away and told someone.
The accused had been drinking heavily during the day, and later stated he could not remember the incident. However, he admitted that if witnesses saw him, it must have been him. The accused applied for bail, but was refused on the basis that he lived close to a school and popular shopping area.
The accused was believed to have a history of alcohol abuse and mental health issues. He was remanded in custody until his next court date.
Process
The accused was charged with one count of rape under section 38 of the Crimes Act 1958. The maximum penalty for rape is 25 years in prison. Due to the particularly violent manner in which the accused was alleged to have assaulted his victim during the course of the rape, if convicted he would be seeing the upper end of the maximum sentence.
Following the bail hearing, the accused was remanded to appear before the Magistrates’ Court.
If you have been charged with indecent assault or rape, whether you have been remanded or released on bail, you should contact an experienced sex offence lawyer urgently. The more time you allow a lawyer to prepare for your matter, the more likely it is that you will receive a favourable outcome in court.
Defences
It is a defence to a charge of rape if the accused can show that they held a reasonable belief that the victim was consenting.
In the above example, it would be impossible for the accused to show that he held a mistaken belief that the victim was consenting to sexual intercourse as he had stalked the victim. She was a young schoolgirl walking home, and the incident took place in a public place.
An important element of a rape or indecent assault charge is that the victim was not consenting. This is judged objectively. If the prosecution can show that the accused should have reasonably believed that the victim was not or might not have been consenting, or that the accused did not give thought as to whether the victim was consenting, this element of the crime will be made out.
In the above example, the accused is alleged to have held the victim at knife-point and threatened her with physical violence, showing quite clearly that he did not care whether the victim consented or not. Consent would not have been a live issue in this case.
As mentioned, the accused may have had a history of mental illness. In limited circumstances a defence lawyer may successfully show that the accused lacked the mental capacity to know what he or she was doing was wrong. In these cases it is not about punishment but protection of the community by way of supervision orders.
Contact
The above example took place in Ringwood, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Dribbin & Brown Criminal Lawyers have an office in Ringwood, as well as several other offices around Victoria. If you have been charged with rape or indecent assault in the Bayside area, Greater Dandenong, Geelong area or in Melbourne’s central or eastern suburbs, you should contact one of our specialist sex offence lawyers immediately.
Our sex offence lawyers are available for consultation at any one of our seven offices, and can represent you at any of the Magistrates’ Courts, as well as the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in the city. Our lawyers are also happy to represent you in regional courts should you be summoned to appear in a different area to where you live. This may happen if you live in the eastern suburbs, but have been charged in Melbourne’s west and summoned to appear in a Magistrates’ Court close to the location of the alleged offence.
If you have been charged with a sexual offence such as rape, indecent assault, or any other sexual charge, arrange to see one of our expert criminal defence lawyers today. The penalties for sexual offences are harsh. Contact one of our sex offence lawyers to assist you in your matter as soon as possible.
