Hundreds of sexual offense cases possibly compromised as Victoria Police investigates data handling issues
Melbourne – Hundreds of โsexual offence cases inโ Victoria are potentially compromised after an internal audit revealedโ issues with how Victoria Police handlesโ digital evidence. The audit uncovered โคproblems with data duplication and a lack of clarity regarding the volume of digital material collected in investigations, raising concerns about theโ integrity of prosecutions.
TeAK Legal & consulting principal solicitorโ karin temperley expressed serious concerns about the โimpact ofโ likely case adjournments. “A year in the โlife of โa โyoung childโ is aโ huge amount of time. We โคcertainly know itโ affects memory and those โkind of things, so to have to deal with that anxiety andโ stress โขis going to be damaging,” she said.โฃ Ms. โTemperley added that the adjournments would likely cause “huge amounts of stress” for most ofโข her clients.
Theโฃ issues identified could also exacerbate existing problems with bail laws,where individuals are already being held inโข police stations for extended โขperiods. “It willโ potentially compound the harms in that space,” Ms. โTemperley stated.โ She also highlighted the anxiety the delays will cause victims awaiting case resolutions,โค some of whom have been waiting for years.
Ms.โค Temperley is currently exploring an appeal in a case from earlier this year where โฃher client received a five-year jail sentence. The case involved questions about duplication across 30-40 devices, but Victoria โPolice didโ not provide an description forโ the delay โฃin answering those questions at โthe time. “The client was keen to get a result,โ so we finalised – โbut all of this โhas come out since,” she said. “Its hard to say how much โฃit’s affected [the] sentence,โ so I’m in โขthe process of getting โคa second opinion.”
The affected cases include matters relating to child abuse.
Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Office โof Public Prosecutions have been contacted for comment.