‘High profile’ rape accused back in court, but faces another delay
The Queensland committal hearing for a high-profile man accused of rape has again been adjourned for prosecutors to prepare medical and mobile phone evidence.
Toowoomba Courthouse is seen in Toowoomba, Queensland, Wednesday, February 22, 2023. (AAP Image/Darren England)
Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday briefly heard the case for a fourth time as part of the process to decide whether the accused man will be committed to stand trial.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces two charges of raping a woman in October 2021.
During the two-minute hearing, crown prosecutor Sally Dreghorn applied to the court to adjourn the matter to allow further time to comply with a request for material from the man’s defence team.
“That’s the FMO (forensic medical officer) report and the Cellebrite (data download and analysis) of the complainant’s phone,” Ms Dreghorn said.
“We haven’t requested the FMO statement yet, it might be that there’s information from the complainant’s Cellebrite that might assist with that request. We’re liaising with police at the moment to determine what might be disclosed as some of that might be sensitive evidence.”
Magistrate Louise Shepherd asked Ms Dreghorn if six weeks would be enough time.
“It will let the court know when the FMO statement might be due,” Ms Dreghorn replied.
The accused man’s solicitor, Rowan King, said he could see “no difficulty” with a six-week adjournment.
Ms Shepherd adjourned the committal hearing to June 28.
The man has been granted bail and was excused from attending court.
His defence team was last month granted an adjournment to seek material on discovery from prosecutors.
Queensland law prohibits naming people accused of rape unless and until they are committed to stand trial.
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