Cairns crime: Rape trial adjourned because police didn’t reveal ‘ripped dress’ evidence

A man who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape had his trial adjourned indefinitely because police failed to mention a critical piece of evidence, Cairns District Court has heard. Read what it is.

POLICE failure to disclose to the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) they had photos of a dress crucial to a rape trial resulted in the jury being sent home and the case adjourned indefinitely.

The trial of Kamaldeep Singh, 36, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, began in Cairns District Court on Wednesday, when defence barrister James Sheridan cross-examined police constable Holly Luck about whether forensic evidence had been gathered.

Crown prosecutor Tegan Grasso told the court on Thursday, the second day of the trial, that she had subsequently asked police about the dress allegedly ripped from the woman by Mr Singh.

She was told that police had photographed the dress, but had given it back to the woman.

Mr Sheridan asked for the jury to be discharged with a review set for 2023.

Cairns District Court heard that Kamaldeep Singh, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, and the woman met via the Tinder dating app.

“This late disclosure is a significant oversight by the investigating police officer and there is no mention of it in his statement,” Mr Sheridan said.

“The photographs that have been revealed show a number of rips and tears to the top of the dress, the complainant spoke to the constable that her dress had been ripped off.

“As part of the brief of evidence, we were never given the photos, the dress is apparently in a bag with the complainant.

“My client realises the importance of this as it may be used as evidence of a lack of consent, we may need to obtain some forensic examination and at the very least would want to inspect the dress, we may very well be asking for physical tender of the dress,” Mr Sheridan said.

He said it was an important issue in the trial.

Judge Dean Morzone, QC, said “evidence has been led (Mr Singh) ripped the dress off … it turns out that there is a dress that was subject to the investigation and may in fact have been ripped.

“The complainant retains the dress, which also poses problems,” Judge Morzone said.

“The late disclosure of these matters through … poor communication with those who brief the DPP, and failure to provide the relevant photo exhibits has led to an embarrassing situation.”

He adjourned the trial and discharged the jury.

The court previously heard Mr Singh and the woman met via the dating app Tinder and agreed to meet and go bowling and the following day they agreed to go to lunch.

The woman has alleged she reluctantly allowed Mr Singh into her unit following the date, reluctantly agreed to allowing him to massage her, and he then raped her digitally.

Mr Singh said in a recorded police interview played to the court the interaction was consensual.

“I went to her place for a bit of a chat … we kissed, she kissed me back, she said ‘you’re pretty sexy’, that kind of stuff,” Mr Singh said in the interview.

Originally published as Cairns crime: Rape trial adjourned because police didn’t reveal ‘ripped dress’ evidence