TD was charged with aggravated sexual assault. The complainant alleged that TD had raped her 7 years ago when she was a minor. The complainant claimed that whilst she was sleeping over at TD’s family’s place, she woke up in the middle of the night to find her pants off and TD on top of her and penetrating her. TD denied these charges and defended these allegations in court.
Historical charges of sexual assault can be difficult to defend
These matters can be hard to defend because both the complainant and the client were very young when it happened. It made it difficult for the client to remember what happened to put forward a positive defence. The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the evidence of the complainant and so the key issue in the trial was the credibility of the complainant.
Defence successfully undermines credibility of complainant
O’Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors successfully represented TD in his trial before Penrith District Court. The defence was able to point out the inconsistencies in the complainant’s recount of events, hence, discrediting her.
The defence argued that there was doubt in the complainant’s allegations, particularly because some of her allegations did not make sense in light of the surrounding events that she mentioned. However, it was clear that the jury did not believe the complainant’s story beyond a reasonable doubt. Consequently, they took less than 5 minutes of deliberation to find our client not guilty.
If you are facing charges of sexual assault, contact our criminal defence lawyers today.
