Australia: RAPIST GETS OFF BECAUSE OF PROSECUTION BUNGLING

An associate of the convicted gang rapist Bilal Skaf was acquitted of gang rape, six weeks after the outspoken Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen was barred from the case because a court ruled she might be seen as biased. Ms Cunneen who had prosecuted the accused, known only as MG, three times over six years was replaced by a new prosecutor, Lou Lungo, who only had a few weeks to prepare for the trial. Yesterday the accused was found not guilty of taking part in the gang rape of Miss C in August 2000.

The ruling banning Ms Cunneen, which can only now be made public, is the latest in a series of perceived slights against the prosecutor. A court found that because of comments she had made about the case she might not be sufficiently fair or detached to prosecute the case.

The retrial jury did not know MG had been convicted of the four offences against Miss C in 2003, but that this conviction was overturned on appeal because certain evidence should not have been allowed. The jury was also not told MG was already serving at least 15 years in prison for his participation in two other gang rapes, along with Bilal Skaf and others. His sentences are still subject to appeal.

Ms Cunneen had been the prosecutor in the Skaf cases and in MG's earlier trials. But in March the Court of Criminal Appeal granted a stay of the retrial until another prosecutor was appointed. The court ruled on the basis of comments Ms Cunneen had made after MG's first trial and a much-publicised speech at Newcastle University in which she mentioned his case. "If Ms Cunneen were to prosecute [MG's] trial, justice would not been seen to be done," the court ruled.

The court found Ms Cunneen had "deliberately or without sufficient reflection" breached rules for barristers and prosecutors by speaking about one of her current cases. The rules were designed to guarantee the integrity of the criminal justice system. Any breach "may diminish public confidence in that system", it said. The court said Ms Cunneen had implied in her speech that MG was guilty even though his appeal was still pending. This displayed "partiality" and a "lack of detachment" and "potentially compromised her capacity to fairly prosecute" the case.

In the Newcastle speech, in March 2005, Ms Cunneen had said: "Perhaps it is time for us to consider whether public confidence in the courts is now being eroded by the perception that the pendulum has swung rather too far in the direction of the protection of the rights of the accused."

The decision to replace Ms Cunneen also caused MG's alleged victim, Miss C, to pull out from giving evidence at the retrial, which was scheduled to start on February 5. After several delays, including the attempt to remove Ms Cunneen from the case, Miss C told police: "I am sick of getting ready to go to court when I am promised it will definitely go ahead and it is called off again because of the defence. "This incident and the subsequent trials and now retrials have had a devastating effect on me personally and I can not go on any longer having to go to court, remember and relive it and be subjected to harrowing questions by defence barristers."

Ms Cunneen declined to comment yesterday, but her boss, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Nicholas Cowdery, QC, said he had "complete confidence" in her and Mr Lungo.

Report here



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