Arabic version: محاكمة اغتصاب ضابط سابق في شرطة نيو ساوث ويلز تشهد الطعن في الأدلة

According to ABC News, the defence for former NSW Police officer David Robert Blackbourne has challenged the reliability of a complainant’s evidence at his trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court. Blackbourne is accused of raping a 17-year-old girl at the police station where he worked in a town near the NSW-Victoria border in October 1998.

Blackbourne has been charged with two counts of assault with an act of indecency, two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, and one count of holder of public office misconduct. He was arrested in 2023 and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial began this week before Judge Huw Baker SC.

The court heard the complainant had gone to the station on the morning of October 17, 1998, to collect a police hat for a year 12 muck-up day. Defence barrister Matthew Johnston SC questioned her about the arrangements, including whether she had walked 4.5 kilometres from her home. She said she could not recall the arrangements or exact date, but said she would not have gone to the station without a prior arrangement.

The complainant had earlier told the court that Blackbourne took her behind the front counter and sexually assaulted her, then took her to another room and assaulted her again. When the defence suggested the alleged intercourse and an alleged non-consensual kiss did not occur, she said: “It definitely happened.”

The defence also questioned whether her recollection was influenced by calls with her former boss in 2020, which she agreed she had relied on to piece together events. It further suggested she had made up a memory of Blackbourne showing her a photograph of his daughter after a covertly recorded 2021 call in which he said he had two daughters. She disagreed. Other witnesses are expected to give evidence this week, with the trial expected to conclude on Friday.