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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Indecent Assault (Incl. aggravated) |
Sentence: |
"18-month community corrections order, 100 hrs community service & register as sex offender for 8 yrs" |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
1984 |
Year Convicted: |
2015 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Australia |
County or Region of Crime: |
Victoria |
City of Crime: |
Melbourne |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Maggie Kirkpatrick was 74 when she was wrongly convicted on August 20, 2015 of two counts of indecent assault and one charge of committing a gross act with a person under 16, thirty-one years earlier in 1984 in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. In 1984 Kirkpatrick was a star on the Australian television program "Prisoner." She was a household name in Australia because of the popularity of her character Joan “The Freak” Ferguson. She lived in Sydney, but rented a house in Melbourne where the program was filmed. In 2015 a 45 year old woman went to the police and alleged that 31 years earlier Kirkpatrick had sexually assaulted her. During Kirkpatrick's bench trial the prosecution's case was solely based on her accuser's account that after she was sexually assaulted by Kirkpatrick in the bedroom of Kirkpatrick's residence where she had had dinner. Cross-examination by Kirkpatrick's lawyer brought out many inconsistencies in the woman's testimony. Kirkpatrick didn't testify, relying on her lawyer's argument that the evidence wasn't sufficient to convict her of any crime. After the judge found her guilty, she was given an 18-month community corrections order, and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and register as a sex offender for eight years. Kirkpatrick appealed, and during the hearing on December 7, 2015 in the Victorian County Court evidence was presented that wasn't heard by the trial judge, including the tape of Kirkpatrick's police statement and Kirkpatrick also testified. She testified that in 1984 a woman who worked on the TV program befriended a 14-year-old girl who was a patient at a psychiatric hospital in Melbourne. The girl was a fan of Kirkpatrick's character, and Kirkpatrick's coworker arranged a meeting between the girl and Kirkpatrick. She said that she thought it might help the disturbed girl to experience "a little home life" for the day, so she invited her to have dinner at her home "as a kindness," However, while she was preparing dinner she saw the girl drink alcohol taken from a cabinet in the house, which made her uncomfortable, so she called a taxi to take the girl back to the hospital. During the hearing a childhood friend of Kirkpatrick's accuser her then psychiatrist who testified that the girl had a troubled home life, she had drug problems, and she self harmed. On December 8, 2015 Judge Geoffrey Chettle announced the court's ruling that Kirkpatrick's account was consistent with independent character evidence she was a caring person who had helped other young people, and there was not evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the girl was assaulted." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On December 8, 2015 Judge Geoffrey Chettle announced the court's ruling that Kirkpatrick's account was consistent with independent character evidence she was a caring person who had helped other young people, and there was not evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the girl was assaulted." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
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Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Home and Away and Prisoner actress Maggie Kirkpatrick has her child sex assault conviction and sentence DISMISSED, By Jennifer Russell and Belinda Cleary (For Daily Mail Australia and AAP), Daily Mail, December 7, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3350271/Home-Away-Prisoner-actress-Maggie-Kirkpatrick-child-sex-assault-conviction-sentence-DISMISSED.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Prisoner star Maggie Kirkpatrick took vulnerable fan home as 'kindness', By Genevieve Gannon, The Sydney Morning Herald, December 8, 2015" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.smh.com.au/national/prisoner-star-maggie-kirkpatrick-denied-childsex-allegations-appeal-told-20151207-glh9es.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Actor Maggie Kirkpatrick, star of Prisoner as 'The Freak' appeals against child sexual abuse conviction, By Jessica Longbottom, www.abc.net.au, December 7, 2015" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-07/actor-maggie-kirkpatrick-appeal-child-sexual-abuse-conviction/7007440 |
Information Source 4: |
"Maggie Kirkpatrick, Prisoner star, found guilty of sexually assaulting teenage girl, By Associated Press (Australia), The Guardian (London, UK), August 20, 2015" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/aug/20/maggie-kirkpatrick-prisoner-star-found-guilty-of-sexually-assaulting-teenage-girl |
Information Source 5: |
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Information Location 5: |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org