Autism sent me to jail claims Rockhampton man

'John' says nowhere is the problem of autism more profoundly manifested than in a police interview

DESPAIR: Rockhampton man 'John' is desperate to clear his name after his own testimony sent him to prison.

A ROCKHAMPTON man, recently diagnosed with autism, alleges his condition saw him imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit.

John (not his real name) says there is no place where the problem of autism is more profoundly manifested than in a situation like a police interview, no matter how many compensations a person develops to hide and mask it.

John was at home with his then wife's daughter from a previous relationship when, in wishing her goodnight, he says he briefly ran his hand over her lower back, which was covered with a blanket.

Some months later he was contacted by police and taken in for questioning over allegations he assaulted her.

He claims his interviewing officer lacked the "maturity, objectivity and experience... and crucially, the training” to identify John's condition and assess how to deal with it.

"My autistic responses became dynamite in his hands,” John said.

"I analyse literally everything to death. My mind goes to work on every new piece of information, pulls it to pieces, looks at it from every possible angle - and at times, as seen in my police interview, I verbalise the whole process.”

John says his autistic quirks and idiosyncracies, combined with evidence that wasn't submitted in court, worked to "hang” him.

"We don't require any 'truth serum' to be absolutely truthful,” he said of fellow autism sufferers.

"We are exceptionally helpful and trusting with an almost pathological need to please.

"When led along by a police interviewer, without a lawyer present, these traits can lead to quite devastating results.

"All this unnecessary verbiage became fodder for further suspicion and assumption that I must be guilty and need to be 'taken down' even if it meant constructing a scenario that didn't exist.”

"I present myself for my District Court trial a bewildered, utterly unprepared, profoundly autistic person without even the benefit of a defence lawyer who believes in me,”

John was not put on the stand to testify; his only defence was his police interview.

"The Crown Prosecutor goes straight for the jugular, lambasting me for my 'qualified' answers, my lack of robust denials, the 'obvious' indicators of guilt in my long-winded explanations and tangents I went off on and long pauses when I was trying to process it all.”

John said it was just one word that condemned him after the interviewer repeated only part of the girl's testimony and asked her whether it was true; she answered "yeah”.

He claims relevant information was not presented to the court including an assessment from the complainant's high school counsellor that she was "likely to have problems with any aspect of language - hearing words correctly, understanding their meaning, remembering verbal material”.

No psychological profile was done on the defendant or alleged victim.

Her mother, aunt and grandmother presented at the defence lawyer's office to clear John's name, but none reached the witness stand.

A retraction letter from his step-daughter, which repeatedly said he was innocent and her account had been misunderstood, was not submitted to the court.

The Court Prosecutor read the jury an incorrect word from the defendant's testimony, an error which wasn't redressed until the next day.

Dennis Debbaudt is an American investigator and journalist who turned to researching autism after his son's diagnosis.

Over the past 19 years, Mr Debbaudt has provided training and developed training materials for law enforcement, first response and criminal justice professionals throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, and United Kingdom.

His article Interview and Interrogation of People with Autism includes chapters titled Misleading Indications of Guilt, The Interrogator as Authority Figure, Friendly-unfriendly, Concrete Thinkers, and Poor Liars.

"The higher-functioning person through his or her responses, and the unaware interrogator through their beliefs, may become unwitting accomplices to continuing a faulty investigation in the best case or, in the worst case, to extracting a false confession,” Debbaudt writes.

"What started as a routine fact-gathering task may turn into an unnecessary interrogation because an officer, unfamiliar with the behaviours of ASDs may have had their law enforcement instincts rightfully aroused.”

Combined with autism, John now suffers post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his time in jail.

He was sexually abused, threatened with rape, beaten and witnessed other prisoners being viciously abused as well.

"Not even having the benefit of knowing I had autism at the time, I was unable to ask for help on that basis,” he said.

John made three requests for an appeal to overturn his conviction during his first month in jail but said he received no response.

"I have proved my innocence many times over with repeated submissions and requests to have my right of appeal restored,” he said.

John believes he is entitled to an appeal based on a High Court ruling that acknowledges 'the need to be able to correct a miscarriage of justice' and 'that any system operates imperfectly'.”

John lost a high-flying career with a global company and struggles to make ends meet while he remains on an offenders' list.

"I am overwhelmed by the never-ending struggle to prove my innocence, fighting to keep myself sinking into the mire of despair and depression, worrying myself sick about police checks and employers finding out about the whole sordid mess,” he said.

"And some of the time I've been fighting not to kill myself.”

He says he would be most grateful if anyone who can provide "any kind of legal assistance, advice or resources related to difficulties encountered by adults on the autism spectrum in the criminal justice system” can email him at [e-mail].

Autism Spectrum Australia (ASPECT) CEO Adrian Ford revealed last year that previous estimates that one in 100 people have autism had been revised to one in 70.

He says the change reflects changes in diagnostic criteria and worldwide research.

Originally published as Autism sent me to jail claims Rockhampton man