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The actor John Jarratt was recently acquitted of sexual assault. The alleged offence occurring more than forty years ago. On the reported facts of the case it is amazing to me that it was ever brought to court. It is equally amazing to me that the case against Cardinal Pell was ever brought to court. And to complete a trifecta — though there are more – it is amazing to me that Christine Blasey Ford was ever taken seriously in charging Brett Kavanaugh with sexual assault.
These cases and others like them have a number of things in common. They all concern sexual assault. They all consist of a dated allegation. They all rest on one complainant. None bring to bear any material corroboration.
As is rightly said, sexual assault does not often occur in open view. There are usually no witnesses. And it is surely true that some victims bury the crime for a long period out of shame, or out of fear that they won’t be believed, or out of trepidation about the perceived consequences of reporting the crime. But this doesn’t and cannot mean that the accusations of complainants must be believed.
Some people lie. Some invent false memories or, with the passing of time, transform vague recollections into concrete form. Some are simply mistaken about the identity of the perpetrator or embroider the circumstances surrounding an alleged assault.
It would be nice to have ready means of uncovering the truth in all cases. We don’t. He said/she said, he said/he said and she said/she said always throw up two versions of what happened. One right, one wrong, perhaps both wrong. I have heard people I know say that Cardinal Pell is innocent. I am drawn always to that classic line in the movie Unforgiven.
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