An article published in The Australian Newspaper, Saturday 17 June 20223: Judges slam ‘Me Too’ trials mirrors exactly what I have blogged here since 2019. The article takes a slightly different angle in which NSW District Court judge Paul Conlon comments: ….cases of alleged sexual assault are: ….being pursued with no reasonable prospect of conviction… and Accordingly, it would seem to me that the initial critical assessment process in respect of the available evidence is simply not undertaken. The latter is aimed directly at police and prosecutors who are duty-bound to scrutinize the evidence to determine whether a prima facie case exists to go forward to trial.
Prosecutors’ Job on Allegations of Sexual Assault
In the same article District Court Judge Penelope Wass SC is quoted as saying: A prosecutor is required to do more than shepherd incredible and dishonest allegations of sexual assault through the criminal justice system leaving it to the jury to carry the burden of decision making that ought to have been made by the prosecutors.
In May this year, NSW MP and barrister Steven Lawrence raised the matter in Parliament in relation to his concern with the saga surrounding Shane Drumgold SC, the prosecutor in the Bruce Lehrman – Brittany Higgins saga saying …the legal industry has “intensified concerns” regarding the conduct of prosecutors who have been swept up in the #MeToo movement and prosecuted sexual assault cases with little evidence.
The fact is, anyone charged with a criminal offence has the protection of the Rule of Law. There are many elements to this fundamental doctrine however, in terms of what is being written here, two stand out. The first is that the accused has the right to a fair trial and the second, as a corollary of the first is that the prosecution is duty-bound to bring its case fairly and impartially. At the start of prosecution guidelines here in Western Australia, The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions states: A prima facie case is established if the available material appears on its face or initial assessment to prove the offence which has been charged. Whether there is a prima facie case is a threshold test that governs the decision to charge. In the absence of a prima facie case, a person should not be.
Not Enough Evidence To Prosecute Cases
In cases where the evidence is insufficient to ground a prosecution, it is a difficult and now politicised decision for a prosecutor to inform the complaint that the prosecution will not proceed. It is politicised because the complainant says that police and prosecutors did not believe her which flies in the face of the #MeToo movement whose mantra is to believe in the woman. For more detailed information feel free to contact Criminal Lawyer Perth today.
Source: