ODPP backs program expansion to help child sexual abuse victims across NSW
After getting 20,000 signatures in eight hours to change how children in NSW give evidence in court, a leading body has offered their support.
Another leading body has echoed our call for the NSW Government to expand a program designed to make court less traumatic for child sexual abuse victims.
The NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) – the body responsible for prosecuting all child sexual offence matters in the state – says the Sexual Offence Evidence Program should be rolled out across the state.
“The ODPP strongly supports the statewide expansion of this important program,” a spokesperson for the ODPP told news.com.au, adding that the program allows children “to give their best evidence” while also reducing their trauma.
Justice shouldn’t hurt, but for children in Australia, it does. The NSW government knows how to fix this problem, but have failed to do so. That’s why news.com.au is calling for law reform to make it easier for child victims of sexual abuse to give evidence. Join the movement and sign the petition here.
The weighty endorsement follows Monday’s campaign launch, in which news.com.au detailed the plight of two sisters – Rose and Pippa Milthorpe – who were left “utterly traumatised” by the system they thought was there to protect them.
In 2013, Rose – age five – and Pippa – age eight – reported to police that they were being sexually abused by a family friend. The matter took more than two years to proceed to trial, and when it did the girls were not permitted to have their parents present. Instead they faced a revolving door of support people, they did not know. After days of brutal cross examination, a jury member fell asleep forcing a new jury to be empanelled. In total the family spent more than a month living out of suitcases, more than 500km from home.
Finally, the offender was convicted, but only of the charges relating to Pippa. Those relating to Rose were dropped.
The sisters say that the court process was just as traumatising as the abuse, if not more.
In June this year, they returned to court, to fight for the right to say their own names when telling their story. The process cost about $45,000 and was covered by news.com.au and the LetUsSpeak campaign, which you can donate to here.
Now the sisters are speaking out to reclaim ownership over their stories, and to push for reforms to the criminal justice system so that other children do not suffer what they did in court.
“We wanted to say our names because there’s no shame,” says Pippa, now 17, from Albury.
“We have no shame in what happened to us. We know that although it took a long time to realise, it’s not our fault, we did nothing wrong.”
Rose, now 14, says she hopes that sharing her story will push the Government to expand the Child Sexual Offence Evidence program so other children don’t suffer in court as she did.
“I think the worst part that needs to be changed is how they interact with the children [in court],” Rose says. “I felt like they were trying to trick me because of my age. So using my age against me.”
Yesterday, a petition supporting the girl’s call to action received more than 20,000 signatures in under eight hours.
Leading survivor advocates have also joined the call for reform including Saxon Mullins, Bri Lee, Janelle O’Connor and Nicole Lee.
They are also joined by a raft of academics and experts who have strongly voiced their support for the campaign and the expansion of the program.
“It never ceases to infuriate and astonish me at how much talk there is at election times about the need to protect children and how little rubber hits the road in real time,” said Hetty Johnston AM, the founder of Bravehearts.
“Here we have an age-old problem with a proven new age solution. It’s been trialled ad nauseam, it works, children are not re-traumatised, offenders are facing justice. What on earth is the delay? How many more years? How many more children? How many more families? It is a no-brainer. Just do it!”
Other academics and experts who have also joined the campaign include Professor
Jonathan Crowe (Associate Dean from the Faculty of Law at Bond University), Professor Catharine Lumby (Chair of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney), Dr Rachael Burgin (CEO of Rape & Sexual Assault Research & Advocacy), and Dr Georgina Dimopoulos, Lecturer of Law at Swinburne Law School.
The Government says the program has been made permanent until June 30 2024, in the two locations of Newcastle and Sydney LGA, and that the Government “continues to look” to expand the program’s reach across the state.
Nina Funnell is a Walkley Award winning journalist and sexual assault survivor advocate who has created the Justice Shouldn't Hurt Campaign in exclusive partnership with news.com.au.
Contact us: ninafunnell@gmail.com
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