Police, prosecutors defend handling of failed rape case against Melbourne tradie

Police and prosecutors have defended their handling of a failed rape case against a Melbourne man who has demanded an internal inquiry into why he was ever prosecuted.

Phoenix Cooper was cleared of a drink-spike rape charge. Picture: David Caird

Victoria Police and the Office of Public Prosecutions have defended their handling of rape allegations against Melbourne man Phoenix Cooper.

Mr Cooper was last month acquitted of raping a woman he met in an Elsternwick bar in 2019, but only after the tradie lost $200,000 in legal fees in the process trying to defend himself.

The Sunday Herald Sun revealed the accused and his lawyers had raised questions about how the matter ever got as far as it did.

They point to what they say was an absence of evidence.

A central part of the initial claims against Mr Cooper, then 23, was that he had drugged a woman after meeting her at the Antique Bar in Elsternwick, in October, 2019.

Toxicology found that the woman had not been drugged.

He believed the matter would end when that key element of the claims against him fell over but police pressed on and charged him after sending the matter to the OPP.

Mr Cooper met the woman in Antique Bar in Elsternwick. Picture: Josie Hayden

A Victoria Police statement said specialist sex crimes detectives conducted a full investigation before the matter was sent for independent legal advice from the OPP.

“Based on all of the evidence available to police, a man was charged with rape,” the statement said.

“Ultimately, it is a matter for the courts to decide if a person is guilty, and we accept the decision made by the Supreme Court of Victoria in this matter.”

A spokeswoman for the OPP said it was policy that “a prosecution may only proceed if there is a reasonable prospect of conviction and a prosecution is in the public interest.”

Top defence barrister Philip Dunn, who represented Mr Cooper, said on the weekend that he suspected his client might not have been sent to trial if the complainant was from a less-affluent part of Melbourne.

Mr Cooper said he wanted the matter examined thoroughly by police.

“I want the whole thing to be looked at with a fine-tooth comb. What was the reason for authorising it? How did it get to this?” he said.

“The presumption of innocence was completely out the window.”