R v BDF

[2020] QDC 37

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v BDF [2020] QDC 37

PARTIES:

R

v

BDF

FILE NO/S:

132 of 2018

DIVISION:

Criminal

PROCEEDING:

Trial

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court at Southport

DELIVERED ON:

11 March 2020

DELIVERED AT:

Southport

HEARING DATE:

17 – 20 February 2020

JUDGE:

Kent QC DCJ

ORDER:

The defendant is convicted of:

-     One (1) count of indecent treatment of a child under twelve (12) being a lineal descendant, under care;

-     Three (3) counts of rape;

-     One (1) count of depravation of liberty; and,

-     One (1) count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under sixteen (16).

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON – SEXUAL OFFENCES – RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT – GENERALLY – where the defendant did an act that aided, counselled and or procured the commission of the offence – where the defendant was the principle offender – where the defendant was the complainant’s mother.

CRIMINAL LAW – OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON – SEXUAL OFFENCES – MAINTAINING SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A CHILD AND PERSISTENT SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD – where the defendant repeatedly allowed unlawful sexual acts to performed on the complainant within the charged period – where the defendant restrained the complainant during the unlawful sexual acts – where the defendant unlawfully deprived the complainant of her liberty.

CRIMINAL LAW – PROCEDURE – TRIAL HAD BEFORE JUDGE WITHOUT JURY – GENERALLY – Where the trial was a retrial –  where the defendant was acquitted of some counts after the first trial  – where a no jury order was made because evidence of acquitted counts would be before the jury – where the judge directed himself as to the admissibility of the evidence of the acquitted counts.

COUNSEL:

G Churchill for the Crown

J McInnes for the defendant

SOLICITORS:

Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Crown

Legal Aid Queensland for the defendant

1. The defendant is charged with three counts of rape, indecent treatment of a child under 12, a lineal descendant, under care, one count of deprivation of liberty and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 16.  The matter has returned to this court after a previous trial, in which the defendant was acquitted of some counts. The former count 1 was not proceeded with, for reasons explained at the commencement of the trial. At this trial, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the remaining live counts.  Particulars of the counts are set out in a document which is Exhibit 1.

The Evidence

1. The evidence of the complainant, who is the defendant’s biological daughter, was contained in a number of recordings.  The first of these was an interview with the police on 5 August 2016.  In that interview, the complainant was not very forthcoming, it seems, as she explained, possibly partly because the investigating detective was a male, which was not the complainant’s preference. 

1. In that statement the complainant said that some things had been done to her by her…