Defending Sexual Offences Against a Child – Client Acquitted

This is a case study on defending sexual offences against a child where client was eventually acquitted.

Our client is a married father of two and was accused of indecently assaulting and raping the complainant. At the time of the allegations, our client was employed in a care workers role which required him to stay overnight in transitional housing run by the Department of Human Services.

What is alleged to have occured?

The complainant was a 16-year old who had fallen out with her family and was ‘off the rails’. Our client denied the allegations. He accepted that he had been in her room but that she had asked him to help her with removing the base of her bed, which was broken, and he at the same time removed piles of old leftover food and rubbish that had accumulated in her room. DNA testing had found traces of the complainant’s DNA on our client’s penis, and traces of his DNA on her chest.

The charges he faced were:

• Sexual Penetration of Child Under 16
• Indecent Act With 16-17 Year Old
• Sexual Penetration of 16 Year Old
• Indecent Circumstances

What happened at court?

We attended at the Melbourne County Court on behalf of the client defending sexual offences against a child. A number of subpoenas issued by us on behalf of our client revealed that the complainant had a significant history of reporting incidents of rape or indecent assault to the Police. We sought leave of the Court to cross-examine the complainant with respect to these prior complaints, and was successful in that application.

What was the result?

The forensic expert accepted that transference of the DNA could not be ruled out given our client’s evidence of handling a number of items belonging to the complainant. The presence of her DNA on his penis could be explained by our client’s evidence that he had gone to the toilet after tidying her room and that it could have transferred as a result of that.