Fifteen rape cases dropped after DPP Sally Dowling ordered review

A review of sexual assault cases ordered by chief prosecutor Sally Dowling following judicial criticism her office was pursuing merit-less cases has seen 15 cases axed. Budget Estimates has heard.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC during the Budget Estimates at Parliament House in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire

A review of sexual assault cases ordered by DPP chief prosecutor Sally Dowling following judicial criticism her office was pursuing merit-less cases has seen 15 cases terminated.

Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC ordered the review earlier this year after claims her team were running sexual assault cases that were doomed to fail.

Appearing at a Budget Estimates hearing on Wednesday, Ms Dowling said the review had examined 330 adult sexual assault trials – with another 11 matters still pending – of which 15 matters had been terminated.

While the review had not identified any “systemic issues”, “opportunities for improvement” had been “noted”, Ms Dowling said.

Ms Dowling also said the final report could be finished as early as late October after an external academic review and would be made public.

Ms Dowling said 15 matters were axed but some of those would have been anyway as a normal part of prosecution. Picture: NewsWire

The review of sexual assault cases committed for trial was ordered in March this year with 330 adult sexual assault trials listed between the April 1 and December 31 this year examined so far.

Reviewers were tasked with considering whether the decision to prosecute was in accordance with the prosecution guidelines, taking into account issues that frequently arose in sexual assault prosecutions such as the impact of intoxication, the relationship between the accused person and the complainant and proof of complainant’s lack of consent, Ms Dowling said.

Ms Dowling revealed that 15 matters had been axed, but claimed some of those would have been anyway as part of the normal course of the prosecution.

“Of the 330 matters, there have been 15 matters terminated,” Ms Dowling said.

“Eight were terminated on evidentiary grounds and seven were terminated on either discretionary grounds or a combination of discretionary and evidentiary grounds.

“Of the eight matters that were terminated on evidentiary grounds.

“It is my understanding that it is likely that these matters would have been identified in the normal course of the prosecution, because some of these matters were many months out from trial.”