State government won’t close legal loophole that helped Joffa dodge prison time
Premier Daniel Andrews has positioned himself at odds with child sex abuse victims and advocates in a move a convicted paedophile and Collingwood super fan’s victim has labelled “outrageous”.
Police & Courts
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The Andrews’ government says it will not close a legal loophole that helped child sex offender Jeffrey “Joffa” Corfe escape jail, with his victim labelling the decision as “outrageous”, and putting the Premier at odds with the state’s leading victims’ advocate who wanted the change to “rebalance the scales of justice”.
Corfe, a former Collingwood cheer squad leader, was given a 12-month suspended sentence earlier this year by the County Court for the 2005 rape of a 14-year old boy.
But as revealed by the Herald Sun in March, outdated “good character” references were submitted by Corfe’s legal team, and then used by judge Gerard Mullaly as a key factor in reducing the sentence.
Former fundraising manager for the Epilepsy Foundation, Jeremy Maxwell, said he was “appalled” to discover an old and updated reference was used in court without his knowledge or approval.
“If I’d known, I’d never have let it be used,” he said.
There were also doubts around the validity of a reference written by the late Father Bob McGuire.
When contacted by the Herald Sun in March, the much-loved charity worker had no recollection of the document.
It’s believed to have been organised by Corfe’s lawyer and a member of the Father Bob McGuire Foundation before Corfe pleaded guilty.
Defence lawyer Louis Dean says he followed the proper processes.
At the time, Premier Daniels Andrews agreed that changes should be made.
“Perhaps we do need to make sure that when people are vouching for others, or people are handing up material, that it is as contemporary as possible,” he said.
And the Commissioner for Victims, Fiona McCormack, urged the government to make the issue a priority, saying it was “something the government could easily do for victims”.
But following months of questions from the Herald Sun, the state government has finally rejected any tightening of the law, putting it back on the County Court to fix.
“The acceptance of written references is a matter for the courts and individual judicial officers to decide,” said spokesperson for Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes.
The County Court would not answer questions about the reference scandal, but have said previously the acceptance of all materials in under the discretion of the judge.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd KC, has also declined to speak on the issue, but her office said it is not their job to test the validity of character references.
“Responsibility for documents provided to a court rests primarily with the party relying on that document,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Judd decided against appealing the leniency of Corfe’s suspended sentence in March.
Without a change to the law, or court guidelines, child sex offenders and others appearing before the County Court, are free to use outdated or invalid references to lessen their punishment.
Ms McCormack called on the Andrews’ government to amend the law so that character references had the same requirements as victim impact statements, which are made as full statutory declarations.
“It’s not a complicated change and would have no financial cost,” she said.
“It would rebalance the scales of justice to ensure the accused couldn’t use dodgy character evidence to bolster their ability to reduce their sentence.”
Corfe’s victim, Alex Case, who has given permission for his name to be used, says he can’t understand why Daniel Andrews won’t act.
“There was such universal outrage over this case, why the Premier will do nothing about it,” he said.
“They are the lawmakers. The only people who’d have a problem with reform are paedophiles and people who want to harm children.”
“I shouldn’t need to keep speaking about it. The whole outcome is bullshit. I didn’t get any justice whatsoever.”
The decision by the Attorney-General comes as Corfe faces new allegations.
As revealed by the Herald Sun in April, Victoria Police is investigating an alleged sexual assault by Corfe on a 16-year old boy at the Flinders Street station public toilets in 1999.
The alleged victim, Thomas (not his real name), said “I need him to face up to it.”
Corfe has denied the allegation.
“The whole thing is a lie,” he said.
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