The allegation contained very limited detail however police put to him that he indecently assaulted an alleged child victim in the past.
The alleged child victim provided very limited information, such as who was present, what time period it allegedly occurred and importantly – proper identification of the alleged perpetrator.
He was ultimately charged with ‘Indecent Assault on a person under 16 years of age’ and retained Ms Regan as his criminal lawyer.
Once the police served their evidence, Ms Regan carefully scrutinised the material and it was evident that there were crucial flaws in the police case, including the fact that persons alleged to have been present at the time of the offence had never been spoken to or a statement obtained. Given this failure, Ms Regan took it into her own hands and obtained statements from each witness which resulted in information that completely undermined the allegations made.
Ms Regan wrote to the police in ‘legal representations’ pointing out all deficiencies and outlining why police should withdraw the charge.
After some time, the police agreed with withdrawing the charge based on the information outlined by Ms Regan – although at that stage, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) took carriage of the matter. They undermined the police decision and despite the weak case against Ms Regan’s client, proceeded to a three day defended hearing in total.
As a result, and for the same reasons outlined by Ms Regan to police, the Magistrate of Downing Centre Local Court found our client not guilty.
In those circumstances, including the significant waste of resources, time and money, we made a costs application for our clients legal fees. The DPP agreed to settle the costs in the sum of $30,000.
