Rebecca was instructed by Kerry Morgan of MBC Solicitors to represent this defendant.
The Crown alleged that the rape occurred after a party, stating that the complainant was not able to consent on the basis that she was intoxicated. The parties were said to be close friends prior to the alleged offending.
Acceding to the Defence request, the Crown served a download of the defendant’s telephone which contained over 125,000 pages of material on the first day of the trial. After a thorough and targeted review of the material overnight, Rebecca made a s.41 application to adduce text messages between the parties. The material rebutted the complainant’s representations of the nature of their relationship. Despite being largely successful on the first application, the trial judge refused leave for the admission of all of the messages. Not to be deterred, Rebecca fearlessly renewed the application after an adjournment and was ultimately successful. This additional material proved to be key in the cross-examination of the complainant.
Rebecca successfully objected to the Crown’s hearsay application to include a statement made by the complainant to a police officer, on the basis that it was a self-serving statement. Rebecca’s knowledge of the applicable law and persuasive submissions resulted in the Crown withdrawing their application, prior to any ruling.
This was a highly tactical trial where robust advice was given to the defendant on whether to give evidence.