Qld: Naming laws in relation to sexual offences to be examined

AAP General News (Australia)
04-16-2004
Qld: Naming laws in relation to sexual offences to be examined

By Nikki Todd, State Political Correspondent

BRISBANE, April 16 AAP - The naming of people accused of sexual offences will be examined
by the Queensland government in the wake of the Scott Volkers affair.

The government today said it would take another look at a report delivered by the Crime
and Misconduct Commission (CMC) in June last year, which examined aspects of the Volkers
case and made recommendations regarding the tightening of naming laws.

In particular, the CMC recommended police should "not supply information to the media
that identifies a defendant charged with a proscribed sexual offence prior to the defendant
being committed for trial or sentence".

Police yesterday ended a two-year saga for Mr Volkers by confirming no new charges
would be laid against him.

The Brisbane swim coach was first charged in March 2002 with seven counts of indecent
dealing involving three teenage girls he coached in the mid-1980s.

The charges were controversially dropped six months later, after Mr Volkers had been
committed to stand trial, but the threat of another prosecution lingered after the CMC
criticised the state's most senior prosecutors.

Mr Volkers' lawyer Peter Shields has called for changes to the law, saying his client
should never have been identified without conviction.

"It is inherently unfair for persons to be named in the media prior to being convicted,"

Mr Shields said.

"I think that is just a very simple commonsense approach."

Mr Shields further called for costs to be awarded to a person who successfully defended
themselves against a case brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

"If the state brings the prosecution and is unsuccessful, and you have had to pay for
your defence, you should get those monies refunded," he said.

Mr Volkers, who said his personal and professional life had suffered immeasurably due
to media coverage of his case, agreed.

"You are guilty until proven innocent," he said.

"The fact that people can go on TV and spout off anything they like, it is defamatory,
there is no doubt about that and it should be illegal.

"And what's more, it should be illegal for television stations and so forth to air it as well."

Attorney-General Rod Welford said while some aspects of the CMC's report had already
been addressed, it had been inappropriate to address the naming issue until the Volkers
case was completed.

"Now that that is finalised, we will move to look at the CMC's analysis and give further
consideration to that issue," Mr Welford said.

"It is premature to predict what legislative action, if any, we will take to amend
the existing law.

"That is something we will give further thought to in the course of this year."

Mr Welford said it was unlikely the state would consider changes to laws surrounding cost claims.

AAP nt/ch/tma/jlw

KEYWORD: VOLKERS (FILE PIX AVAILABLE)

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