In September 2018 our client, a 24-year-old Chinese exchange student, was charged with one count of Torture, two counts of Rape and one count of Contravening a Domestic Violence Order in Brisbane.
The offence of Torture in Queensland carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 14 years and Rape carries a maximum term of life imprisonment.
After withdrawing instructions from his previous lawyers, our client engaged our office through Legal Aid in June 2019 having already spent 11 months on remand for these offences and had an upcoming trial listing in September 2019.
Zoe Kansky of our office engaged Mr Damian Walsh and Mr Nick Brown of Counsel and conferenced extensively with our client and commenced reviewing the brief of evidence material.
Upon review of the brief we observed significant parts were missing and requested further disclosure of crucial evidence including phone downloads of the complainant, police domestic violence records and medical history.
Over the course of several months the Crown disclosed over 300 gigabytes of additional brief of evidence material including 100,000 images, 10,000 messages and 5,200 videos involving our client and the complainant.
Zoe Kansky engaged a mandarin translator and commenced a tedious and thorough review of the brief of evidence over the course of several weeks. This revealed multiple discrepancies in the complainant’s version of events and evidence suggestive of a false complaint of rape.
Our office made submissions to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions with respect to all four offences.
After 17 months on remand, the Crown discontinued all charges against our client in the District and Magistrates Court and he was immediately released from custody.
If you are interested in our criminal lawyers acting on your behalf, please do not hesitate to contact Zoe Kansky on 3009 8489.
