The Court: Moorabbin Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Tom Woodward
The Charges:
- Sexual Assault of a Child
The Allegations:
It was alleged that around 15 years ago, the client had performed a number of sexual acts with two children who were sisters, not related to him, aged 13 and 15 at the time, including sexual penetration. The client denied all allegations made against him during the recorded interview and was prepared to fight the charges all the way. If found guilty, the client would be a registered sex offender for 15 years.
Once our office received the brief, our solicitor noted that there was a reference to sexual penetration in the summary, but police had not laid any charge for it.
Our solicitor indicated to the client that any charge involving sexual penetration was very serious and we would endeavour to have that removed from the police narrative, as the charges did not support it.
At Court:
Our solicitor also noted that the police had listed the matter in the summary jurisdiction. If the police had laid the charge of sexual penetration to support the allegations in the police summary, the matter would have had to proceed in the committal stream.
Following a frank discussion with the prosecution, the parts of the police summary that detailed penetration were removed as the evidence did not adequately support them. From there, the only allegations that proceeded were those consistent with the charge of indecent act with a minor (Note, the charge of indecent act with a minor has since been repealed, but does come up from time to time in relation to old offending).
Our solicitor discussed the matter with prosecutors during the case conference. It then progressed to contest mention, then to special mention, and was finally set for a Contested Hearing. Fortunately for the client, we sensed that the prosecution was delaying in providing our office with materials and was also reluctant to progress the matter to a hearing.
The Outcome:
Following lengthy discussions at the Special Mention, the prosecution withdrew the charges. This was based on our client’s instruction not to seek repayment of legal costs from the police. All charges were withdrawn.
This case highlights the benefits of engaging experienced lawyers who always engage in thorough preparation. The police knew that the case was not a clear-cut one, and that if they proceeded to court and lost, they would face substantial costs. These two factors likely contributed to the police withdrawing the charges.
