The Sexual Violence Bill now before Parliament this week is a travesty that strengthens the already strong arm of the state and subverts a central tenet of our legal system – the presumption of innocence. The proposed changes to our law are so pernicious that most defence trial lawyers and some prosecution lawyers fiercely oppose them. The activists promoting the bill peddle the lie, based on unscientific statistics, that false sexual allegations are so uncommon that we can assume all sexual defendants are guilty. I have defended many clients on sexual charges and have seen at first hand innocent men put through unbearable anguish. The number of false sexual allegations is hard to determine, but my experience convinces me it is far higher than usually acknowledged.

Source: Stuff December 13, 2021 17:41 UTC