Rape accused’s self-imposed safety-order in jail delays case

A MAN charged with two counts of rape – and who has declined legal representation – hasn’t been able to review all evidence against him because he is on a self-imposed safety order while on remand in jail, a court has heard.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told

Southport Magistrates Court he was sent the brief of evidence, which included CCTV, but he was unable to view all files because of time constraints within the jail library.

The alleged rapes of a woman occurred on October 17 last year at Broadbeach Waters.

The man, who is self representing, said he also asked to view the Queensland Law Handbook in the library but was told there was only one copy.

“For the 900 plus prisoners in the jail they’ve got one (copy) for everyone,” he said.

Prosecutor Emily Coley said transcripts had been sent to the man to review.

Ms Coley said the prison had advised that he could access a computer three times a week.

“The difficulty with that is he’s imposing this safety order on himself,” she said.

The man told the court he had been on the self-imposed safety order for five months now, as prisoners had threatened him and thrown urine through his cell.

He said this meant he was on lockdown for 22 hours a day.

“Because of my charges I didn’t want to say anything. Unfortunately one of the prisoners who was with me in the watchhouse … just happened to enter the unit that I was in four months after I got there,” he said.

“Because of my secrecy and him knowing briefly about allegations of rape, everyone’s put allegations of rape with a minor together.”

The matter was set to proceed as a full-committal hand up, but Magistrate Michelle Dooley said if the man was going to represent himself he had to read all of the material before it could.

The matter was adjourned to July 28.