Arabic version: محكمة الاستئناف في إقليم العاصمة الأسترالية تلغي إدانات مكغاري
According to ABC News, the ACT Court of Appeal has set aside two sexual assault convictions against former Australian National University academic Rick McGary. McGary had been convicted at his third trial over an incident at Cotter Reserve in 2020 and a separate incident involving another complainant at the ANU in 2016. He was acquitted of a second charge involving the 2020 complainant.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced McGary to six years in prison in December. The appeal court ruled that tendency evidence used in the case lacked probative value and had a prejudicial effect. During the trial, prosecutor Emma Bayliss had argued McGary was a “determined pursuer” who tended to disrespect sexual boundaries.
Justice Natalie Charlesworth said the similarities between the alleged incidents did not have “significant probative value”. She said the evidence showed little more than allegations by two complainants, and described part of the asserted tendency as a generic statement with little or no forensic force. Justice Charlesworth also raised significant concerns about the credibility of the complainant in the 2020 matter after deleted and disputed text messages emerged.
Acting Judge Andrew Muller and Justice Jon White agreed that the 2020 count must be retried because there was no unanimous finding, while noting a retrial was unlikely to proceed and would require careful consideration by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The court ruled the 2016 charge could never be tried again, finding prosecutors had put McGary at a forensic disadvantage and that including it in the third trial brought the administration of justice into disrepute. McGary welcomed the decision, while the Director of Public Prosecutions is understood to be considering seeking special leave to appeal to the High Court.
