The case that changed me – Angela Cooney

I could tell you about all sorts of fancy cases I’ve done, which are equally important, but it’s the little moments per se that I find so incredibly rewarding. If you speak to any defence lawyer, you wouldn’t hear anything different. We are in this job because we like helping people. That doesn’t mean helping criminals get away with murder, contrary to public belief. It’s about ensuring people have somebody guiding them through the criminal justice system.

This client was one of the most engaged and motivated people I’ve ever met in terms of trying to do the right thing after being charged. He was facing 21 different aggravated sexual assault charges in relation to his ex-girlfriend from a few years ago. When I met him, he’d been in custody for six months and refused bail. He wasn’t coping and his family (who were incredibly supportive) were at their wits’ end.

At the time of the relationship, he was 18 and she was 15. There was never any doubt that clearly it was, at the very least, sex with a minor who couldn’t possibly consent. He was always willing to stick up his hand and say ”yes I’ve done the wrong thing” in relation to the age issue with consent. He swore black and blue it was nothing other than a loving relationship between boyfriend and girlfriend above and beyond that.

By their very nature, sexual assaults usually happen behind closed doors. There’s nobody to provide any kind of independent eyewitness account and it’s not unusual to have no complaint evidence, or for the complainant to not report the matter for a number of years. That was the case here. There wasn’t much to convince the DPP they shouldn’t proceed with these very serious charges. What changed the game was when I was handed a CD with their entire Facebook chat history. It was served by the DPP as part of the brief. It was a nightmare trying to go through several folders of communication. When we compared it to the charges, you could see the allegations didn’t add up. It was a lesson in preparation and doing proper justice to your client’s case.

We managed to get him out of custody and convince the DPP to withdraw a lot of the serious charges. Instead, he pleaded guilty to nine charges that were effectively having sex with a minor. This removed the aggravating features. We also got them to agree to prosecute these matters in the Local Court as opposed to the District Court.

The Magistrate gave judgment and determined he should receive what was then, a Section 12 suspended jail sentence, which meant he didn’t have to go back into custody. The client and the family were elated with the result, but it was tinged with sobriety because they understood the seriousness of the consequences. He was going to be on the sex offender register and have convictions on his record.

I remember walking out of the court room and having the feeling that if I did nothing else with my life, if there was nothing else that I achieved, then doing this kind of work and helping people would be enough.

It’s not to take away what happened to the victim because these sorts of charges exist for a reason and he was punished accordingly. He stopped studying his teaching degree as a result of being charged and changed degrees as this was all going on in the background.

I recently found out he’s now married and happily settled down in a great job. We don’t often get to see what happens at the very end, but it was quite affirming to know I could make such a positive impact on somebody’s life –  he never reoffended and is a contributing member of the community.