An outcry erupted across Australia last year after a member of parliament accused a colleague of raping her. The following process is aborted due to a procedural error. As is now known, he should not be included again.
A rape case in Australia that sparked nationwide protests is no longer being tried in court for fear of traumatizing the alleged victim. “The ongoing trauma associated with these charges poses a significant and unacceptable risk to the life of the accuser,” said District Attorney Shane Drumgold. Therefore there will be no second trial in the case.
Former government official Brittany Higgins accused a former colleague of raping her in a minister’s parliamentary office in early 2021. The accused denied the allegations and denied that there had been any sexual acts at all. The trial ended abruptly in October this year due to a procedural error. A member of the jury had been found guilty of misconduct. A new date was set for next February – and now cancelled. The accused will no longer have to answer for himself.
After Higgins’ allegations became known, around 100,000 people demonstrated in Australian cities against sexual violence. Several studies have painted a startling picture of a “sexist culture” in Australian politics. Every third politician or employee in the Australian Parliament stated that they had already experienced sexual harassment there. Australia’s then Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologized to victims of sexual harassment and to Higgins for “the terrible things that happened here”.
According to prosecutor Drumgold, Higgins suffered an unprecedented amount of verbal abuse after her allegations were made public. “Ms. Higgins has experienced a level of personal assault that I have never seen in more than 20 years in this job,” he explained. He hopes that this will now stop and “Ms. Higgins will have the opportunity to heal”.
