Supreme Court refuses to block trial on historic indecent assault charges

He ruled that it is up to the criminal trial judge, not the Court, through judicial review, to determine whether the accused needs more information about the complainant’s past experience of alleged sexual violence. If the defendant has a complaint about a possible unfair trial, it should be addressed to the trial judge, the court said.

The man is alleged to have committed 18 offenses of indecent assault while looking after the complainant and her siblings when she was aged between four and 14. At that time he was of legal age. He denies all accusations and maintains his innocence.

The man, now in his 60s, launched judicial review proceedings in the High Court claiming he could not get a fair trial because he needed access to a wide range of information about all incidents of sexual abuse events that the complainant claims to have suffered.

The High Court ordered the man to be provided with the names and addresses of the youths who allegedly assaulted the girl, details of separate allegations of rape, full documents about a relationship that was prosecuted and any allegations he made against two more people The trial should not proceed without these matters being disclosed, the judge said.

Canceled orders

Those orders were overturned by the Court of Appeals, which held that discovery and information issues should be dealt with by the criminal court overseeing the trial.

The man appealed to the Supreme Court, which on Thursday refused to halt his trial or order further disclosure.

In the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Justice Peter Charleton noted that the complainant had already given extensive information and documents, but refused to cooperate further when the accused asked for “further information”.

He said alleged victims of sexual violence have the right to be protected from investigations before and during a trial about their past sexual experience, including alleged sexual crimes against them.

A trial judge cannot order disclosure of the alleged victim’s prior sexual experiences unless that line of inquiry is shown to have a “material impact on the trial of the central issue” in the case, he said.

If a defendant wants to disclose that information, including the relationship to a complainant’s prior experience of sexual violence, he must show that it “reasonably affects the possibility that a false report of sexual violence will be made,” the judge said.