ROBERT DICK
In 1 March 2012 Robert Dick was found guilty by a jury of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent. In June 2007 Dick assisted in running a brothel out of a house in inner Canberra and in providing Thai women as sex workers. Three days after the victim, a Thai national who spoke very little English, arrived in Canberra, Dick entered her bedroom and demanded sex. The victim resisted and physically struggled against him but he sexually assaulted her with a vibrator. A month later Dick again demanded sex and offered her money but she refused. Dick held the victim down and again sexually assaulted her.
At the time of the trial Dick was suffering from a rare type of blood cancer. The trial was logistically challenging as Dick required regular breaks for rest as well as to receive prearranged treatment at hospital. Before he could be sentenced, Dick died.
SARP REFORMS
In last year’s Annual Report I acknowledged the significant legislative reforms as a result of the SARP legislation. I commented on some further reforms which would further improve the experience of giving evidence for victims of sexual offences, and family violence offences.There were a number of reform suggestions that this Office supported in this area. Some of those reforms were in a Bill which has now lapsed before the current Assembly. The Bill will have to be re-introduced in the next Assembly if the measures are to proceed. The salient features of the Bill included:
- extending the definition of sexual intercourse to include common sexual acts currently not covered (acts that are within the definition in the majority of Australian jurisdictions);
- making it an offence for a person to engage in sexual acts with a young person under the age of 18 if the young person is under the person’s special care. This includes school teachers, step parents, foster carers, employers, coaches, counsellors, health professionals, and custodial officers. This provision would bring the ACT in line with all other Australian jurisdictions and provide greater protection for young people in the ACT;
- significant reforms to how witnesses give evidence. Police interviews as evidence in chief are currently limited to children or intellectually impaired victims of sexual offences and some violence offences. The Bill extended this provision to all child or intellectually impaired witnesses in prosecutions for such matters. This recognises the challenges facing children and intellectually impaired people in giving evidence many months or years after the event apply equally whether giving evidence as a victim of an offence or as a witness more generally;
- victims of sexual offences currently give evidence from a remote location. The Bill
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ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12 DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS 19
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