He was found not guilty to charges of assault and indecent assault.
Exactly. Not guilty. Again, I’m not saying he is or isn’t just saying it’s over regardless and unfortunately for Christie it needs to be accepted that the courts have made a judgment and it’s over.
You said he was found innocent, which is false.
Given the defamation proceedings brought by McLachlan against Whelan Browne (and media outlets reporting her allegations) was aborted shortly before witnesses were to give testimony, I’d suggest there is more to this story.
The opposite of not guilty isn’t innocent?
The opposite of guilty is not guilty. There is no such ruling as “innocent”.
A not guilty ruling means the prosecution hasn’t proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. It is not a ruling that the alleged incident/s didn’t occur.
Entirely possible in this case that despite McLachlan being found not guilty, Oldfield/GFO Entertainment could nonetheless be found liable under the Sex Discrimination Act. Mind you, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a lawyer.
Again it comes down to the difference between criminal bar of guilt, beyond all reasonable doubt, versus civil bar, benefit of the doubt.
Hence why you have a lot of people found not guilty of criminal charges who are later ordered to pay damages in civil proceedings. Most recent and notable example is the Ben Roberts-Smith case, which was a civil case, and hence had a much lower bar to clear to find him guilty of being a war criminal (this ruling is being appealed). It was a civil case because it was actually BRS alleging Nine defamed him.
There is no ruling of innocence because you are presumed innocent until you are found guilty.
Not guilty probably for me is that they didn’t find the evidence to be convinced of the alleged sexual harassment alligations. In my opinion, they didn’t prove their case, and he as a result of the not guilty (to me) is not innocent. It is the job of the prosecution to prove the alligations by relying on whatever evidence they had (the so called witnesses who’s reliable memory should have been questioned, because memory and testimony can be tricky) to prove their case. Clear they failed to do so.
No criminal conviction = not guilty = still innocent of the alleged sexual harassment.
That’s just me.
There’s always more to a story.
A senior male manager at Nine Entertainment is the subject of an investigation into an alleged rape reported by a junior female staff member as part of the media company’s independent review.
The Australian reports that lawyers at firm Ashurst this month spoke with the woman – who has engaged her own legal team – about an alleged incident that took place after end-of-year celebrations in 2019 near Nine’s then headquarters at Willoughby on Sydney’s north shore.
It is claimed the male manager and the woman left the work function together and returned to the woman’s home, where the alleged sexual assault subsequently occurred.
The woman initially provided details of the alleged incident as part of consultancy firm Intersection’s review into Nine’s workplace culture. The woman has since provided Ashurst with details of the alleged incident, including her claims of bullying that resulted in her leaving the company in early 2022.
Finally, the net is closing in on the nutjob
From the ABC:
NSW Police have said in a statement Alan Jones has been charged with 24 offences against eight alleged victims over two decades.
That includes 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault - victim under authority of offender, nine counts of assault with act of indecency, two counts of sexually touch another person without consent and two counts of common assault.
Mr Jones has been granted conditional bail and will be back before the courts on December 18 at Downing Centre Local Court.
Occurred between 2001 and 2019 - youngest was 17.
Wasn’t this reported 3 years ago? Took a long time for him to be arrested.
The threshold for him to be charged is much higher than the threshold for the media to run the original reporting.
They needed to investigate the allegations but also many victims were initially scared to come forward.
For the past nine months, detectives from Strike Force Bonnefin, run by the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse Squad, have been conducting a top-secret investigation into Jones.
The strike force was formed after a lengthy investigation by the Herald and The Age, which revealed in December that Jones had used his position of power, first as a teacher and later as the country’s top-rating radio broadcaster, to allegedly prey on a number of young men.
“I wish to commend the victims [for] their bravery in coming forward. They are fully aware, as are the investigators, that the hard work is just beginning. They have given their statements fully aware they will go through the courts."
"The reports in the Herald and The Age did result in victims coming forward and the creation of Strike Force Bonnefin but … a number of witnesses have been assisting police over the years.”