Magistrate let girl stay in his home in Shadow of Doubt abuse case

Listen to Episode 6 now | Laywers for a father convicted of sexually torturing his daughter weren’t allowed to cross-examine the young woman, our Shadow of Doubt podcast reveals today.

Father ‘Martin Johnson’ in our investigative podcast series Shadow of Doubt: Illustration by Emilia Tortorella

A magistrate who committed a NSW father for trial on charges of raping and torturing his daughter later befriended the young woman and allowed her to stay in his home overnight, before the case had been decided at trial.

The magistrate’s conduct was “wildly inappropriate” and raised questions about the way the case was conducted, a leading criminal lawyer has told The Australian’s Shadow of Doubt podcast.

The accused father faced more than a hundred charges of sexually abusing his daughter over a 13-year period when he was brought before the magistrate, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The father’s solicitor at the time, Andrew Bale, says he requested leave to cross-examine the daughter at committal because of concerns about her psychiatric condition.

But the application was refused and the magistrate committed the father for trial.

Mr Bale expressed astonishment when told that the magistrate later befriended his client’s daughter, visited her in a mental health ward and allowed her to stay in his house one night when it was unoccupied.

“I’m staggered that a judicial officer would form some sort of relationship with a complainant in a very serious case like this before the matter has been determined by a court,” Mr Bale said. “It has to fundamentally erode the public confidence in the judiciary, where there’s such a staggering lack of insight into the role.”

There is no suggestion the magistrate’s subsequent friendship with the complainant affected his decision, but Mr Bale has questioned whether the conduct has the capacity to erode public confidence in the criminal justice system.

The young woman’s parents were later convicted in the NSW District Court on 86 charges of abuse.

The Shadow Of Doubt podcast is investigating the parents’ claims that their daughter’s allegations were based on false memories elicited during counselling.

Sisters Rebecca, Sarah and Emily Johnson (not their real names). Emily and Sarah accused their parents of sexual abuse but Rebecca and brother Daniel have stood by the parents.

The daughter told counsellors and police that her father had raped her from the age of five and tortured her with tools for more than a decade on the family property in rural NSW. None of her siblings, friends or boyfriends saw any sign of the extreme violence, which she reported after being hospitalised in a mental health ward at the age of 17.

He confirmed to The Australian that after the committal proceedings in the case he had visited the daughter in hospital and allowed her to stay in his house one night when he and his wife were away. He said he left it to others to decide whether that had been appropriate.

Mr Bale was strongly critical of the former magistrate’s actions.

“It represents, in my view, a gross lack of judgment,” he said.

“I’m not suggesting that there’s necessarily something inappropriate that’s happened here. But fundamentally, when justice is to be done, justice needs to be seen to be done.”

The father at the centre of the case was sentenced to 48 years in prison, the longest jail term for child abuse ever imposed in Australia. His wife is serving a 16 year sentence. Speaking from prison for the podcast, they both emphatically deny that any of the events alleged by their daughter took place.

*The images used with this podcast investigation are for illustrative purposes only and bear no resemblance to the real people in this story, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

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