Raped woman told it's not an assault
06.11.1997
By: KOCH A Source: QNP
A RAPE victim has had a $60,000 compensation award more than halved because the Queensland Justice Department has ruled that rape is not recognised as an assault.
The Justice Department also insisted that the woman submit to a urine test to establish that she was drug free because she had a conviction for possessing a marijuana pipe and three plants 16 years ago.
The department said it was concerned the woman, a social worker, could use some of the compensation on drugs.
The victim said yesterday that after Attorney- General Denver Beanland approved the reduction in her award, she felt ``violated by the Justice Department as well''.
``How dare they treat humans in this way,'' she said. ``If the Government doesn't really mean what it says about looking after victims, why have the legislation at all.''
The 35-year-old former university lecturer and mother of two was working on Mornington Island in the Gulf on April 26 last year when she was attacked in her house and raped twice.
Her attacker, who was sentenced to seven years' jail, had been back on Mornington Island for three days after serving 15 months for the attempted rape of a three-year old girl on the island.
Because he was just under 17, the offender cannot be named.
The woman has not been able to return to work and applied for compensation as a victim of crime.
Judge Helen O'Sullivan, who awarded her $60,000, said she had ``suffered dreadful degradation, physical bullying and fear'' which had a devastating effect on her life.
Judge O'Sullivan also blasted the Criminal Offence Victims Act, saying there should be a ``public outcry'' and that it denied victims the right to be reimbursed for a range of expenses.
Judge O'Sullivan said it was ``totally unjustified'' for victims not to be able to claim costs of applying for compensation.
It was ``as disappointing a piece of legislation as I have ever had anything to do with in the 20 years I have been in the legal profession'', she said.
When told by counsel Tony Bailey, for the woman, that rape victims did not automatically qualify for compensation, Judge O'Sullivan said she could not believe a rape victim had to pretend to be stabbed to get the award.
``It's just extraordinary,'' she said. ``It is a most unacceptable piece of legislation. It's not even particularly along feminist lines.
Continued Page 4;
Editorial Page 16 From Page 1
``What of the numerous young children that we hear about in this court on a very regular basis _ boys and girls _ who are terribly injured as a result of sexual assault. Are they to get nothing?'' Judge O'Sullivan asked.
She hoped the politicians who formulated the legislation were ``sufficiently intelligent and progressive these days to see sexual assaults as personal''.
Judge O'Sullivan awarded the victim a total $60,000 for the post traumatic stress disorder and the ``assault''.
However, on June 27 the Justice Department wrote to Mr Bailey saying there did not appear to be evidence in support of the two awards and added that the award ``could be seen to be excessive''.
The letter also said the woman had ``a criminal history featuring convictions for cultivating a prohibited plant and possessing a pipe for smoking a dangerous drug''.
``Where an applicant has been involved with illicit drugs, and there is a possibility that any moneys received will be used to acquire drugs, as a matter of policy proof is required that the applicant is no longer using drugs before any recommendation of a payment can be considered,'' the Justice Department letter said.
The woman said yesterday that Mr Beanland ``should open his eyes and look at the effect these issues have on people's lives _ not the effect on his budget''.
``They actually pay people a huge wage to slow down the process,'' she said.
The woman said she also was considering suing the Family Sevices Department for ``dumping'' the convicted youth back on Mornington Island without any heed for what he might do.
``The department knew the type of person they were putting back on the island. They were placing that whole community at risk,'' she said.
``It is just lucky he didn't choose another little child.''
When the Goss Labor government passed the Criminal Offence Victims Act in November 1995, Mr Beanland, then Opposition justice spokesman, slammed it for not catering adequately for rape victims.
He also said he received constant complaints about delays in payments of victims' claims which should take no longer than two weeks to settle.
The claim from this case took eight months to be settled.
Mr Beanland had told Parliament that ``rape'' should be regarded as the most serious offence, and should attract the maximum award of $75,000.
He said the legislation was a ``clear case of discrimination against women and children who were victims of sexual assaults''.
But last month Mr Beanland recommended that the ``rape'' component of the award to the Mornington Island victim be rejected.
In October last year, when sentencing the rapist, Judge Michael Forde said he had received a submission that in the time since the prisoner was a small boy he had been ``accustomed to seeing young men lie in wait for women and rape them''.
``I believe it is substantially true, but that does not mean the women . . . accept it and give,'' he said.
