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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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The Press A High Court
judge has criticised the police investigation and prosecution of an alleged
historical sex case and says the accused man has a "just and
reasonable" case for costs. In a decision in
the High Court in Christchurch, Justice Fogarty said he was not satisfied
"there was a proper investigation and a proper evaluation of the justice
of prosecuting" the man on a rape charge and an alternative count of
incest. "Overall, I
think this is a case where it is just and reasonable that there be an order
of a sum towards the costs of the defence," he said. The judge said
the $55,851 in defendant costs put forward by the man's lawyer was a reasonable
figure, but he reserved a decision for further calculations on the final sum.
The man was
acquitted in June after a jury could not agree. The judge said
aspects of the case warranted a "careful and objective"
investigation of the complaint. The judge said
the complaint was made "in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic event
for the complainant and her husband when they found that their son had been
sexually abusing their daughter". The complainant
had been undergoing counselling before she made her statement to the police,
and told the police she was making her complaint as a way of getting closure.
She alleged she was raped repeatedly by her brother as a teenager up to the
age of 21. The
"inherent improbability of sustained, repetitive, non-consensual
intercourse through to age 21" by a brother "without a young woman
being able to take steps to bring the intercourse to an end" was an
important contextual factor. Despite the
alleged offending, the complainant had maintained "strong family
relationships" with her brother before making her complaint, the judge
said. The fact the
prosecution had laid charges of rape with incest as alternative suggested
there was some "real doubt" about the strength of the case, the
judge said. The man's
lawyer, Jonathon Eaton, was correct to submit that the cost of the trial was
"largely cast on to the defence by the lack of investigation of the
complaint by the prosecution", he said. |
