Not Guilty of Historical Child Sexual Assault at Sydney District Court

Our Client is a 58-year-old man from Sydney.

He was contacted by Police in relation to a complaint that was made of sexual abuse 40 years ago. He was subsequently arrested on allegations of child sexual assault and indecent assault charges.

He contacted us as he was walking to the Police station. We immediately got to work on preparing material to allow him to be granted bail. This was opposed by Police, despite our Client not knowing where the complainant was or where she had lived in the last 40 years. The Magistrate was persuaded by our case and allowed him to be granted bail.

We then spent the next year preparing for Trial. We undertook significant preparation including obtaining floorplans of the residence where the allegations were said to have occurred, subpoenaed medical records and instructed a medical expert to demonstrate that our client could not have committed the offences.

The Trial proceeded at Sydney District Court.

We cross examined the complainant and her siblings at length about her complaint. We were able to elicit inconsistencies between the statements she made to police and her evidence in Court. We were also able to highlight inconsistencies between the evidence of the complainant and other prosecution witnesses in respect of times and dates that the offences may have occurred.

Several medical experts gave evidence, including her original treating doctor. These experts confirmed that our Client could not have committed the offences, and that at the time in question, her Doctor’s thought process was that sexual assault was the only reason for her medical condition.

It took the jury just two days of deliberation to come to a unanimous verdict and find our client ‘not guilty’ of all charges.

Our Client was overjoyed with the result and can now move on with his wife and three children with the rest of their lives.