Victoria rape survivors in new battle to stop dead sisters’ names from gag order

A Victorian dad who molested his daughter and stepdaughter then went on to do something else unimaginable. Warning: Distressing content

WARNING: Distressing content

Two rape survivors who helped defeat Victoria’s victim gag-law are now battling to save the their dead sisters’ names from erasure.

As little girls, Jaime-lee Page and Tracey Morris did not know each other. Growing up in separate households and different neighbourhoods – one in suburban Melbourne the other in regional Victoria – their lives seemingly held little in common.

But beneath the surface, a dark thread connected the two girls’ worlds, and entwined each in unspeakable horror.

For Jaime, the rapes began when she was just eight years old. Her father, David Hodson, would creep into her room and molest her as she lay terrified and confused. When Jaime’s older stepsister, Carol, reported to police that she too was being sexually abused, Hodson took a .38 revolver and shot Carol three times, twice at point blank range.

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Jaime Lee Page was just eight when her father molested her.

Carol was shot dead after she told police she was being abused.

The murder occurred just four days before Hodson’s sexual assault trial had been due to commence. He was found guilty of murder and in April 2019 was convicted of multiple sexual assaults against his biological daughter Jaime. He will be eligible for parole next year.

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David Hodson was convicted of multiple sexual assaults against Jaime.

David Hodson is due for parole next year.

Like Jaime-lee Page, Tracey Morris also endured a hellish childhood. For her, the sexual molestation began at age five and involved three adult male relatives, including her uncle Gary Badenhop, maternal grandfather (since deceased), and a third male relative (who cannot be named for legal reasons).

As Tracey grew, she came to learn that the men also “took turns” on her even younger sister, Jodie. Tragically in 2001, Jodie suicided following years of trauma resulting from the abuse.

Jodie, who tragically suicided.

Her sister Tracey is determined to tell their story.

Last year Jaime and Tracey’s paths would merge in the most unfortunate of circumstances: both would find themselves gagged by a new law which silenced victims of sexual crimes in Victoria.

Determined to tell their stories, they each joined the #LetUsSpeak campaign aimed at overhauling the victim gag-law.

Then, with legal work provided by Marque Lawyers and the #LetUsSpeak GoFundMe, they took their cases to court and were both ultimately victorious in winning the right to tell their stories under their own names in public.

Eventually the gag on living sexual assault survivors was scrapped in November last year. But not without a catch. In return, the government attempted to implement a new ban on publishing the names of deceased rape victims instead.

The move was immediately condemned by the #LetUsSpeak campaign along with Jill Meagher’s mother and Aiia Maasarwe’s father.

A stalemate was forced.

Jill Meagher was raped and murdered in 2012.

Aiia Maasarwe was raped and murdered in 2019.

Now the Government has proposed a new scheme altogether, whereby deceased sexual assault victims will still be able to be named, unless an individual applies to the court to have the deceased victims’ name suppressed.

To make an application a person would need to prove they have “sufficient interest” in the victim’s name being suppressed, which includes the nature and duration of their relationship, financial or other form of dependence and cultural factors.

In theory this sounds more sensible.

But experts and victim advocates caution there is a sting in the tail: the new Privacy Orders can be made without the victim’s next of kin or loved ones ever being informed or consulted.

This means that names of deceased victims - such as Jill Meagher and Eurydice Dixon - could be permanently suppressed without family members ever being notified or given a chance to object.

In fact the only group who will be mandatorily informed and offered a chance to object is the media itself.

In high profile cases, lawyers acting for the media may be incentivised to lodge an objection, assuming they have the resources and inclination to do so.

But experts are concerned that less high profile cases, where the incentives for media outlets and their lawyers are less clear, may slip between the gaps.

Dr Rachael Burgin, Executive Director of Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy (RASARA) says that media may be more likely to get involved in ‘stranger-danger’ sexual homicide cases as these cases tend to attract more interest than cases involving family members.

Jamie-Lee Page wants to be able to tell her sister Carol’s story.

For Jaime and Tracey, however, there is another even more alarming possibility arising out of the newly proposed system.

In cases such as theirs, where the offender is within the family, there is a risk that an individual who is sympathetic to, aligned with, or still groomed and controlled by the offender could seek and obtain a gag on the deceased victim’s name in order to advantage the offender or for their own nefarious reasons.

“I can think of a number of people who would be wanting to put a suppression on my sister’s name,” says Tracey Morris, “one being the remaining, living perpetrator of sexual abuse [who was never charged or convicted].”

Tracey is also worried that other family members may wish to suppress her sister Jodie’s name for self-interested reasons, such as to conceal their own inaction and moral failings at the time the abuse was disclosed.

“In my situation a number of people were not only complicit in hiding the sexual abuse and silencing my sister and I, but also culpable in my sister’s decision in choosing suicide over living.”

“Anyone could seek a suppression on a deceased family member’s name under the pretence they are protecting the deceased, [when] instead [they are] doing so to protect themselves,” says Tracey.

While the bill states that offenders and people acting on their behalf would not be eligible to apply for a suppression order, Tracey says this misses the point.

“I would want to be informed and have the opportunity to object if someone was to seek a suppression on my sister’s name. Without the opportunity to object, there is a lack of procedural fairness, transparency and inquiry into the reasons as to why a suppression is being requested,” says Tracey.

Victoria: the secret state

Victoria is already known among lawyers and the media as the “secret state” due to the ease with which suppression orders are granted, particularly in sexual assault matters.

In 2020, for example, data gathered by News Corp shows that Victorian courts issued more suppression orders than all the other Australian states and territories combined. That is, of 906 suppression orders made across the country last year, 497 were in Victoria.

Dr Rachael Burgin, who is also a lecturer of law at Swinburne Law School, has raised further concerns with the Government regarding how the suppression-order application system may be covertly weaponised within family violence contexts.

“The dynamics of family violence can be really complex and not always obvious to the court. In a family context, often the abuser subjects multiple people to coercive controlling behaviour. That control does not necessarily end when the perpetrator is arrested. It can continue in many forms including [groomed family members] continuing to make excuses for the perpetrator, rationalising away their behaviour or siding against the primary whistleblower victim.”

‘She married the man who murdered her daughter’

For Jaime-lee Page, these risks aren’t just theoretical arguments.

When her father murdered her stepsister Carol, Jaime assumed that Carol’s own mother would denounce Hodson.

Instead she married him.

In a prison ceremony, the two were wed. It was a move which ensured Jaime’s stepmother would never have to testify against Hodson or reveal any information she knew about the abuse.

Jaime was appalled.

“She married the man who murdered her own daughter. She sided with him. It was disgusting, they even sent me an invitation to the prison wedding,” says Jaime.

Carol was killed by her stepfather and then her mum married him.

Jaime says that her case demonstrates why it’s imperative that the power to suppress a victim’s name does not rest with just one family member or person who makes an application.

“Imagine if you couldn’t speak about your own daughter or your own sister because someone in the extended family took it upon themselves to have the victim’s name suppressed and you had no idea,” says Jaime.

“No, you need to have a chance to object, that’s how the law should work.”

“I’d be absolutely horrified and angered if Carol’s name was suppressed and everything I had fought so hard for meant nothing. Carol was such a special person what happened was absolutely devastating.

“She came forward [to police because] she wanted to protect me. In my eyes I want to get her story out to repay that.

“The public deserves to know who she was. She deserves to have her memory live on. She didn’t die for nothing.”

Nina Funnell is a Walkley Award winning journalist and the creator of the #LetUsSpeak campaign in partnership with Marque Lawyers, Rape & Sexual Assault Research & Advocacy, and EROC Australia. You can donate to the #LetUsSpeak legal fund here.