Former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields has charge of rape dropped

A historic sexual assault case against former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields has been spectacularly dropped, but he now says he will never be able to return to the place he once called home.

Former Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields (centre) after his sexual assault case was withdrawn at Parramatta Court, with his lawyers Margaret Cunneen and Roland Day. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The state’s youngest ever councillor who became Dubbo Mayor has spent the last two years of his life “in purgatory”, heavily medicated to control his depression and anxiety – even contemplated taking up boxing – acutely aware he’s not the type of guy that would last in jail.

But on Thursday relief washed over Ben Shields and his close-knit group of supporters, after an historical sexual assault charge that had been hanging over his head was spectacularly dropped by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

“This is not a win. This is a relief that justice prevailed and this nonsense case has been seen for what it is,” Mr Shields exclusively told the Saturday Telegraph after the jury trial in Parramatta District Court came to an abrupt halt.

“But the damage is done. And this is another example of the wokeness of the police and the ODPP and it has to stop,” he said.

Mr Shields’ lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC will seek damages on the 43-year-old’s behalf after he was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man 20 years ago.

Ben Shields back when he was Dubbo Mayor. Picture: Dylan Robinson

On Thursday Crown prosecutor Andrew Issacs told Judge Huw Baker that the ODPP had decided that there would be “no further proceedings” against Mr Shields.

Mr Shields moved from the dock to the gallery and the jurors were told they were being dismissed.

“As you can see Mr Shields is no longer sitting in the dock,” Judge Baker told the jury on Thursday.

“That’s because proceedings have ended.”

After the ruling Mr Shields revealed the hell he had been through, being forced out of his home in Dubbo, and being shunned by people he represented as a local councillor and mayor.

“It’s the worst thing that I could have been labelled, a perverted rapist,” he said.

“I was the youngest serving politician in Australia when I started on council. My first council meeting was the night before I sat my English HSC exam, that’s how young I was, but I loved serving my community. Now I don’t think I can ever go back there, never say never, but I’m heartbroken.”

“Even winning damages isn’t a win, it’s trying to recoup what I have lost fighting this case that I’m sure even the police know should never have been brought before the court.

“The police should do their job of investigating, testing witness credibility, testing evidence before doing it the other way around, laying charges, getting into a his word against his, it’s wrong and it’s got to stop.”

Ben Shields says his political career is over and he has no idea as to what his future holds. Picture: Supplied

Mr Shields can trace his very public and humiliating downfall back to March 2021.

He was subjected to an “avalanche of accusations” that were circulating around town, multiple code of conduct complaints, sexual misconduct and soon councillors were calling for his resignation.

One night, he convinced his partner he was okay and to take a walk, so he could end his life.

If a fellow councillor had not sensed Mr Shields was not coping and had he not checked on him, his attempt would have succeeded.

Mr Shields spent six days in a coma on life support “with tubes down my throat and on a ventilator pushing oxygen into my lungs”.

The recovery was touch and go, riddled with medical complications and stints in a Sydney hospital, but eventually, with the support of his long-term partner and close family and friends Mr Shields survived.

“I resigned from the council six weeks after I got out of hospital. After a few months I decided I wanted my job back so I ran for re-election but the thought of me being sick and the ongoing allegations caused me to be smashed in the council election.

“During that failed council election, a video went out on social media calling for people to come forward with any dirt on me.”

The jury was told the alleged victim’s aunt was watching Stephen Lawrence, the then mayor of Dubbo, conduct a Facebook Live event on November 8 2021.

Ben Shields in intensive care.

It was local government election time, and Mr Lawrence invited people in the community to come forward if they had any complaints about Mr Shields.

The alleged victim’s aunt shared the video with him and they began messaging.

The alleged victim reached out to the third man in the threesome, his ex-boyfriend, the following day and discussed the night back in 2003.

The alleged victim contacted Mr Lawrence and told him about the allegation against Mr Shields.

He said “He wouldn’t take no. He f …. d me without my consent”.

Six months later a message on social media from a man saying he needed to talk to Mr Shields.

He called within a minute of receiving the message.

Little did he know the man on the other end of the phone was recording the conversation with the cooperation of police.

During the conversation the man brought up some memories about the night he had had a threesome with Mr Shields and another man in 2013. He was 18, the other man 19 and Mr Shields 20.

He said he was “uncomfortable afterwards”. Mr Shields responded that he didn’t know the man was uncomfortable.

“So I was too drunk to say yes to it, so yeah,” the man said.

Mr Shields told the man he hadn’t done anything wrong but asked if the man was going to police, and that if he felt that way, he should.

Ben Shields says cases like the one brought against him need to stop. Picture: Tim Hunter.

On the night in question the man gave evidence he travelled to Dubbo to spend time with an ex-boyfriend and his then partner, Mr Shields.

The alleged victim told the jury the trio attended a barbecue, then visited the Dubbo RSL and a pub before returning to Mr Shields’s home after midnight.

The man agreed he willingly entered the bedroom and had sexual relations with both men.

However he told the jury that while he consented to Mr Shields penetrating him, he withdrew the consent midway through.

During cross-examination Ms Cuneen put to the alleged victim that when he was talking to police he changed his version from “the act being non-consensual to the continuation of the act being non-consensual”.

The witness replied “Yes I remembered more of it, tried to remember more of it, before I went and did my statement”.

She continued: “On the night that you spoke to Stephen Lawrence your version was ‘he fucked me without my consent wasnt it?’

Answer “Yeah”.

“And that’s not true is it?” Ms Cunneen continued.

“No I think whether or not it started consensually and he continued … he still f … d me without my consent because I withdrew it.”

Ms Cunneen: “Well you didn’t explain that to Mr Lawrence at the time did you?

Answer: “No I don’t think I did at the time”.

Ms Cunneen also raised that the alleged victim first told police he was raped while lying on his back, but in the witness box said he was on “all fours”.

The jury was also told the alleged victim had a spare room at the house in which he was staying but spent the night after the encounter in bed with the other two men, waking around lunch time the next day.

He told the jury he had contact with the other man in the threesome ten years later but agreed they did not discuss any allegation of sexual assault or consent.

But most detrimental to the prosecution case this week was the evidence from the alleged victim that his cousin had called him on Monday and reminded him that she remembered him telling her in 2013 “that the mayor of Dubbo doesn’t take no for an answer”.

Ms Cunneen reminded the witness that Mr Shields was not the mayor at that time.

It is understood that the cousin informed police this week that she had not spoken to the alleged victim for years and did not have his phone number.

For Mr Shields his court “victory” is bittersweet. His career in politics is over, his name is forever sullied in his beloved hometown and he has no idea what his future holds.

“I have to try to get a job. I guess I have to take one day at a time.

“I guess this brings closure for me and I hope someone takes notice of what cases like this do to people. This has to stop.”

He said he would be forever in debt to his barrister, Ms Cunneen, who saved his life.

“Margaret cops criticism for being anti women, but that is so far from the truth. She has worked on both sides, as a prosecutor and as a defence barrister and she is just anti nasty people who tell lies,” he said.

“This is serious shit, this isn’t trivial like kicking someone off of a footy team, this is potentially sending someone to jail.”

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