The case reported today of a 17 year old sex attack victim being pressured into agreeing to a plea bargain resulting in two of her attackers receiving 18 month good behaviour bonds raises significant public concerns, Shadow Attorney General Greg Smith SC said today.

“The situation is exacerbated by the fact the father of the young woman was in fact convicted of assaulting one of the attackers and apparently received a greater penalty - a two year good behaviour bond - than his daughter’s attackers,” Mr Smith said.  

“The State Labor Government has for too long now starved the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of adequate resources to properly prosecute its duties,” he said.

“This appears to be another example of a cash-strapped ODPP being pressured to offer a charge bargain rather than take the chance of running a long and perhaps difficult trial.

“However, there is no excuse for the prosecution to place pressure on a victim of crime to agree to a charge bargain where that charge bargain does not properly reflect the criminality of the offence.

“The public would understand that, in this type of case, a victim is often reluctant to give evidence because the trauma is repeated by multiple cross examinations by legal representatives repeating the harrowing experience over and over again.

“The State Labor Government has pushed for plea bargaining to lessen the cost of the criminal justice system. Unfortunately this sometimes leads to criminals receiving less punishment than they should for their actions.

“In a review of charge bargaining the Hon Gordon Samuels set out guidelines to be followed by prosecuting authorities.