Our client is 37 year old man from Blacktown.
The parents of a 13-year old girl returned home to find him hiding under their daughter’s bed.
They called police who attended the home and interviewed the girl. The teenager told police our client was her boyfriend for the past six months. She claimed the pair had kissed and that he had touched her breasts on a number of occasions. She denied that they had sexual intercourse.
Our client was arrested and conveyed to the police station, where he participated in an interview vehemently denying any intimate relationship between the two.
He was charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault.
The complainant later gave further statements to the effect that the pair had engaged in several acts of sexual intercourse.
As a result, our client was charged with five counts of sexual intercourse with a person aged under 14 years, an offence which attracts a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment, and three counts of committing an act of indecency.
The prosecution served phone records including daily text messages suggestive of a lengthy intimate relationship. Forensic evidence of a mixed DNA profile allegedly containing material from our client and another was also served.
Our team carefully reviewed all material and obtained detailed instructions relating to all alleged encounters.
Most importantly, we subpoenaed all text messages between the pair – as the prosecution had only served selected messages and the full DNA analysis materials.
The full text messages revealed our client’s resistance to any form of sexual relationship.
We arranged for forensic samples to be sent to independent laboratory, which in our view should occur in all cases of a claimed DNA ‘match’.
The laboratory provided a report to the effect there was no definitive match.
Our team also engaged an expert gynaecologist who provided an expert report to the effect that the analysis of the complainant was inconsistent with her (latter) account of having sexual intercourse with our client on the day police were called to the home.
The prosecution nevertheless took the case to trial in Sydney West Trial Courts, Parramatta.
Our defence team systematically took apart the prosecution case through careful use of defence materials and expert cross examination, revealing the major inconsistencies in the complainant’s statement, ensuring the jury had a full account of the nature of the relationship between the complainant and defendant, and raising doubt regarding the veracity of the DNA evidence.
The jury ultimately returned verdicts of not guilty to all of the charges.
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