Channel Seven identity to face trial over child abuse allegations
By Cloe Read
A Channel Seven identity accused of more than 70 offences of child abuse, including rape, has been committed to stand trial, but dozens of charges have been thrown out due to insufficient evidence.
The woman was charged alongside her partner after they both appeared on a prominent television show. The Queensland couple cannot be named because of a non-publication order.
The pair were charged in 2023, with the woman accused of rape and assault, and the man facing charges of torture and assault. In November, the two torture charges against the man were dropped, after the prosecution conceded there was not enough evidence to proceed.
A Channel Seven identity has been committed to stand trial in Queensland on child abuse charges.Credit: Bloomberg News
The allegations cover the period from 2005 to 2023.
On Wednesday, the couple appeared in the Richlands Magistrates Court, south-west of Brisbane, where Magistrate Stuart Shearer dismissed more than 50 charges for the woman.
Shearer told the court several of them were not indictable offences, while others were duplicitous or had no evidence for a properly instructed jury to convict on. For some charges, Shearer described the evidence as “weak”.
Shearer has frequently raised issues with the evidence, and criticised the prosecution’s handling of the case.
The accused woman, wearing all black, stood and cried while Shearer read the charges on which she was committed to stand trial.
Family members and supporters of the couple were in the courtroom.
When asked if she had anything to say, the woman answered: “No, your honour.”
While dismissing the charges, Shearer told police prosecutor Tom Wirawan he would not amend charges to “fix your case”.
He committed 12 offences for the woman, including indecent treatment, unlawful assault, and one count of rape, to the Brisbane District Court at a later date.
Shearer did not commit the man’s 11 offences to the higher court, and instead ordered a summary trial in the same court on April 30. A remaining 12 charges for the woman of common assault and observations in breach of privacy will also be heard in the same court.
At the beginning of the hearing, Shearer said there was no reason why the man’s charges of common assault and observation in breach of privacy should not be dealt with by way of a summary trial.
“I won’t be doing it obviously, having already formed a view about the reliability and credibility of witnesses so it’ll be listed in a week when Magistrate Simpson is in trial,” he said.
The woman and man declined to comment outside court.
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