Hunter survivor of child sexual abuse, Peter Gogarty, has welcomed reforms introduced to State Parliament today which will allow jurors to be told about an accused abusers prior convictions.
The changes in legislation are expected to remove a significant barrier preventing child sex offenders from being held to account and leading to ‘unwarranted acquittals’.
University of Newcastle Criminologist, Peter Gogarty, suffered sexual abuse as a child from a member of the Catholic Church and says these reforms should dramatically increase convictions in the cases of other survivors.
"These sorts of crimes happen very much in private so it becomes an I said, he said sort of scenario which has always worked to the benefit of the perpetrator," he said.
"So now we have the potential for other victims of that same person to have their evidence heard in court. The value of that in terms of proving the behavior of a pedophile will have a dramatic improvement in having convictions of these people."
A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard about many criminal proceedings in which evidence of an accused person previously offending against children was ruled inadmissible due to courts’concerns that it may unfairly prejudice the accused person.
"In my own case, I was prepared to give evidence against Father James Fletcher in somebody else's matter. The judge at the time thought my tendency evidence didn't have sufficient value under the legislation as it then existed," he said.
"If that exact same case was to happen today, my evidence would have been admitted, the jury would hear that and I think that would result in more convictions and probably stronger sentences."
NSW is the first Australian jurisdiction to introduce agreed legislation enabling greater admissibility of tendency and coincidence evidence, such as evidence about an accused person’s tendency to have a sexual interest in children.
"The NSW Attorney General, Mark Speakmen has been pushing other States to follow suit. I'm confident that they will do that," Mr Gogarty said.
Mr Gogarty says the reform is an amazing step forward, however there are still significant changes which need to be made.
"I think the other big issue that remains is the protection that is still afforded to the seal of the Confessional in the Catholic Church."
"I know that the Attorney General is looking at that. I think they need to be bold and brave and say that protection no longer exists in the confessional when someone confesses to a child sexual assault."
