The Herald’s legal fight to protect the community from a serial rapist

Justice Michael Lee will be best known to readers as the canny and compelling judge who presided over the defamation trial launched by rapist Bruce Lehrmann against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson.

I was impressed by the way Lee handled the case – particularly his decision to livestream the hearings for the public. It was a strong demonstration of open justice, and I thanked him for prioritising that important principle when I ran into him at an event last week.

The following day, Lee was interviewed at the annual Women in Media national conference and had some free advice to reporters and editors: don’t sit back and accept unnecessary secrecy in our courts.

“What the media could do better is ensuring that courts and judges are held to account when it comes to suppression orders,” he said. “It’s not rocket science. Get some young barrister who charges next to nothing.”

It was heartening to hear someone so senior fighting for the public’s right to know. While most court hearings are open to reporters, it is getting harder for the Herald to bring you important details from our courts. Suppression orders are a growing problem, and our reporters are having to have more fights to access routine documents.

We did, though, have an important win on Tuesday when the Herald’s legal team overturned a ban on naming the so-called “North Shore Rapist”, Graham James Kay, and reporting his recent crimes.

Kay, now 73, raped six women and girls by holding a knife to their throats and forcing rags into their mouths; he attempted to do the same to two more victims between December 1995 and December 1996.

The Herald won a legal fight to name Graham James Kay, the so-called “North Shore Rapist”.

In 2015, he had been released after serving 15 years of a 20-year jail term for the attacks on the eight women and girls. Since his parole in 2015, the state of NSW has taken out a series of orders designed to keep a close eye on Kay.

But as the Herald’s crime reporter Perry Duffin revealed, an order in 2020 came with two crucial changes: first, Justice Stephen Rothman suppressed Kay’s name after concluding negative press was preventing him from reintegrating into society.

Second, the state watered down conditions to no longer force Kay to provide a schedule of his movements to supervisors. It meant Kay would be monitored but could go where he pleased.

What happened next? Surprise, surprise, Kay stalked a young woman through Sydney’s CBD for two hours, followed her home into her apartment building and indecently assaulted her. Crucial details of the crime could not be reported due to the suppression order.

The Herald’s executive counsel Larina Alick brought this sorry state of affairs to my attention recently and we agreed to challenge the suppression order so the Herald could tell the public about this despicable man, and the state’s inexplicable decision to water down monitoring conditions.

Larina and barrister Matthew Lewis worked hard to overturn the secrecy provisions and secured a victory on Tuesday, allowing us to report the full story of Graham James Kay. I want to thank them again for their work, as well as Perry and news director Andrew Forbes.

I would also like to thank one of Kay’s victims, who penned a powerful letter for us to submit to the court. The woman argued “the community should have the right to protect themselves” in a way she could not.

“The offender should be exposed for his crimes, and the community has the right to know the identity of the offender,” she wrote. “I was fearful that I was going to die at the hands of the offender and would not wish that upon anyone else.”

This was an overdue win for transparency and accountability. Thank you for supporting the Herald and our important work.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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