Justice system and community stigma keeping sexual violence victims from speaking up
The Geelong community has been encouraged to “hear and listen” to victims of sexual violence as the number of convicted predators skyrockets. Here are some of the successful cases in the courts this year.
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More sexual predators are being convicted than ever before, but there are fears a flawed court system is preventing the majority of victims from ever seeking police help.
Geelong-based Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre’s (SAFVC) chief executive officer Helen Bolton said those who did decide to use the criminal-justice system reported that they were “adding to their trauma”.
Many victims and survivors were failing to report their assaults due to “barriers inherent in police and the justice system”, Ms Bolton said.
According to data from the centre, only 48 per cent of victim-survivors will seek advice or support and only one in 10 women who have been sexually assaulted will report it to police.
“Fear of being disbelieved, fear of blame, avoiding emotional pain and a lack of acknowledgment of the assault itself are some of the complex barriers to disclosure,” Ms Bolton said.
“Sexual violence is a crime and unacceptable.”
According to the Crime Statistics Agency, the number of people convicted of sexual offences in Victoria jumped from 9222 in 2013 to 13,567 in 2022.
Sexual violence in Geelong increased by 31 per cent between June 2017 and 2021, according to data released late last year by SAFVC.
Ms Bolton said changes in the courtroom could encourage more people coming forward, including more support staff and additional assistance with navigating the “complex legal process”.
She said victim-survivors needed “space to tell their story”.
Some lawyers have taken it on themselves to address stereotypes in courtrooms, with crown prosecutor Sarah Thomas telling a jury in the trial of Luke Merryfull and Shaun Bloomfield that stigmas “have no place in these proceedings and similarly no place anywhere”.
“We know that no means no,” she said.
“Consent is not just a question of failing to say no, failing to struggle or failing to have injuries. Consent has to be a free agreement.”
Ms Bolton echoed this, telling the Geelong community to be “mindful of the attitudes, beliefs and conversations they have and hear about violence against women and children”.
“While sexual harassment, assault and violence are prevalent, it is also preventable and we all have a role to play.
“As a community, we must come together to support victims, hold those responsible accountable and reduce the stigma ... that perpetuates harmful attitudes and beliefs,” Ms Bolton said.
If you or someone you know needs support, please contact SAFVC on 03 5222 4318 or email reception@safvcentre.org.au during business hours for support in the Barwon area.
For support after hours, weekends and public holidays please contact the Sexual Assault Crisis Line (24 Hours) on 1800 806 292.
Here are some of the cases that have made it to the courts this year:
Luke Merryfull and Shaun Bloomfield
A Highton man and his friend were found guilty in August of raping a Balmoral woman in a caravan after a party.
A jury found ex-local footy player Luke Merryfull guilty of one charge of rape and his friend Shaun Bloomfield guilty of one charge of rape and one charge of sexual assault in the County Court of Victoria.
In April 2016, the victim was in a caravan with the two men when Merryfull raped her and told Bloomfield “she’s all yours”.
Prosecutor Sarah Thomas told the court the men, who both pleaded not guilty, “took advantage of her in a small space and they went ahead with what they wanted to do regardless of what she wanted”.
When the touching started, Ms Thomas said the woman told them no, declined a threesome when they asked her for one and tried to physically remove one of the accused men from her.
“Consent is not just a question of failing to say no, failing to struggle or failing to have injuries. Consent has to be a free agreement,” Ms Thomas said.
Mitchell Young
Hours after he got married in Ocean Grove, a man allegedly cornered a wedding guest and groped her.
Leopold man Mitchell Young, 38, faced the Geelong Magistrates Court in May this year and was placed on a diversion application, meaning he did not enter a plea, on one charge of sexually assaulting the woman on an elevator in October 2017.
The court heard that between 10 and 11pm on the night of his wedding, Mr Young followed a guest into the elevator of an Airbnb.
Mr Young was accused of grabbing the woman when they were alone and allegedly grinding against her.
Magistrate John Bentley said what he did was “incredibly demeaning”.
“It should have been the happiest day of your life … and now look at it. You can’t just blame alcohol for that,” Mr Bentley said.
Jake Taberner
A Highton man went to the home of an OnlyFans content creator he had met through Airtasker and sexually assaulted her late last year.
Jake Taberner, 25, pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court in August this year to assault, sexual assault and theft.
After fixing the woman’s printer, Taberner reached out to the woman over the Airtasker app and asked about her night.
After he was told she was creating content, Taberner said he “felt like I should join” and showed up at her door.
The victim encouraged him to leave but Taberner walked into her house, reached to touch her collarbone and moved to her breasts.
In a victim-impact statement, the victim said she “spends a lot of time being scared”.
Christopher Potiriadis
A man behind a chain of Geelong fish and chip shops pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting an underage employee, a court heard in August this year.
Christopher Potiriadis, 32, who lives in the Wyndham area and works around Geelong, entered a plea of guilty at the County Court of Victoria to encouraging a teenage girl into sexual activity and sexually penetrating the teenager.
In mid-2021, Potiriadis stopped his car at Myers Reserve in Bell Post Hill and pulled the employee into his lap.
Between December 2020 and March 2021, Potiriadis sent the victim text messages that escalated from heart emojis and telling her she “did really well” to sexually explicit comments.
Edmund Akkary
A Norlane man accused of raping a woman in a Geelong industrial area was found guilty early last month.
In February 2019, Akkary pulled over into a Geelong industrial zone and forced a woman to perform oral sex on him.
The court heard the woman arrived distressed at Akkary’s Norlane home and he offered to drive her to a friend in Geelong West.
While he remained seated in his car, Akkary used one hand to force the woman’s head down onto his lap.
Immediately before this, he asked the woman if he had a small penis and then forced her to put her hand on him.
The woman pushed against his chest in an attempt to stop him.
Nicholas Vaughan
The young victim of Leopold man Nicholas Vaughan watched on in May this year as he was sentenced for grooming and sexually assaulting her when she was just 14.
Vaughan, 33, appeared at the Geelong division of the County Court of Victoria and pleaded guilty to three charges of sexually assaulting a child under 16 and four charges of sexual penetration of a child.
What started as gifts escalated into Vaughan sexually assaulting the then-14-year-old girl while she begged him to stop.
In Snapchat messages that he told his victim to delete, Vaughan canvassed the possibility of a sexual relationship and, at one point, set a countdown to her birthday.
In a victim impact statement, she said she was still traumatised.
“Every day I still feel as though this is my fault and had I done that one thing differently in that situation, then I would not be sitting here reading this out,” she said.
Shaun McGuire
An Ocean Grove man who indecently assaulted his step-daughter as she slept faced court earlier this year.
Shaun McGuire entered a plea of guilty at the Geelong Magistrates Court on indecent assault charges in May.
In a victim impact statement obtained by Geelong Advertiser, the woman said she “kept thinking it was my fault”.
“My mother had always told me that if anyone touches you in your private places, tell me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly. This man had become my mum’s world,” the woman said.
In a police statement also obtained by Geelong Advertiser, the victim said McGuire went into her bedroom while she was sleeping.
She said she felt someone “touching my boobs” but tried to pretend she was asleep out of fear.
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