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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Child/Minor Sexual Assault |
Sentence: |
2 years 5 months with 10 month min. |
Years Imprisoned: |
1 |
Year Crime: |
20015 |
Year Convicted: |
2014 |
Year Cleared: |
2016 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Australia |
County or Region of Crime: |
New South Wales |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"R.P. was wrongly convicted in 2014 of one count of aggravated indecent assault and two counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10 years, in New South Wales, Australia. R.P.'s "sexual intercourse" prosecutions were based on him allegedly having anal sex with his younger brother twice in 2005, several weeks apart, when he was about 11-1/2 years old and his brother was 6 years and 9 months old. R.P.'s indecent assault prosecution was based on him allegedly putting his hand on his younger brother's penis on the ouside of his brother's clothing while they were watching a DVD in 2006, when he was 12 years 3 months old, and his brother was 7 years 5 months old. The prosecution relied on the prosecution of R.P.'s younger brother. R.P.'s defense was that the common law in Australia presumes that a child under 14 years lacks the capacity to be criminally responsible for his or her acts. The child is said to be doli incapax. Evidence was presented that R.P. suffered from intellectual disabilities, and tests conducted when he was in school showed his IQ was lower than 96% of students his age, and he he tested with his IQ. When he was 17 he was placed on a disability support pension based in part on his IQ test of 70-79 placed him in the "borderline range of intellectual functioning," and he was described as having "moderate difficulty in social/occupational functioning" and required supervision in daily activities. R.P. had to repeat the 9th grade because of behavioral difficulties, and he dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. After a bench trial the judge ruled the prosecution, had disproven doli incapax for the three counts. R.P. appealed, and August 26, 2015 the New South Wales Court of Appeal quashed R.P.'s indecent assault conviction on the basis the trial judge erred in ruling doli incapax had been disproven, but it upheld his sexual intercouse convitions. R.P. appealed. On December 21, 2016 the High Court of Australia quashed R.P.'s sexual intercourse convictions on the basis the appeals court erroneously ruled that the trial judge did not err in ruling the prosecution had disproven doli incapax. The High Court ordered R.P.'s acquittal, stating in its ruling: "I am left – after considering the totality of the evidence that was adduced at the trial – with a reasonable doubt about whether RP understood that the sexual intercourse which he had with his brother was seriously wrong by normal adult standards."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On December 21, 2016 the High Court of Australia quashed R.P.'s sexual intercourse convictions on the basis the appeals court erroneously ruled that the trial judge did not err in ruling the prosecution had disproven doli incapax. The High Court ordered R.P.'s acquittal, stating in its ruling: "I am left – after considering the totality of the evidence that was adduced at the trial – with a reasonable doubt about whether RP understood that the sexual intercourse which he had with his brother was seriously wrong by normal adult standards."" |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
20 |
Age When Released: |
21 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
RP v The Queen [2016] HCA 53 (21 December 2016) (Quashing conviction based on R.P.'s inability to know his conduct was seriously wrong in a moral sense.) |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2016/53.html |
Information Source 2: |
RP v R [2015] NSWCCA 215 (26 August 2015) |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2015/215.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Man who raped 6-year-old brother when he was 11 has conviction quashed: Psychologist found boy's upbringing was 'unsatisfactory' and IQ tests showed his intelligence was abnormally low, By Matt Broomfield, The Independent (UK), December 23, 2016" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-rape-boy-cleared-charges-young-action-new-south-wales-a7489711.html |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org