The rape case that put sexual consent on trial | Four Corners

saxon was almost jumping down the road in the luke lazarus version he didn't say bad words to saxon mullins when while they were kissing he asked her to put her hands on the wall i didn't raise my voice or demand anything i only said it while talking to her , she turned around and put her hands on the fence and leaned over and pointed her buttocks at me. Luke Lazarus testified that Saxon Mullins never said "stop or not"; he said the movement of Saxon's body back and forth toward him also indicated her

consent

. He was asked why he described taking Saxon's virginity as a pretty disgusting anal story.

Sex on the street I think it's not normal I think it can be adequately described as disgusting It was a disgusting story Well, the rich, spoiled son of a restaurant owner sydney nightclub cried in court today but didn't get much sympathy because he was there because he had

rape

d a teenage girl luke andrew lazarus now knows he can't hide from his crime that night almost two years ago a 12 person jury found luke lazarus guilty of having sex with saxon mullins without his

consent

at his sentencing hearing said his life had been ruined essentially i had the world at my feet i could have been chief executive any ambition i had is destroyed i haven't been able to function at all without strong sedatives I still feel like my life at least in Australia has been completely destroyed and I now have to live the rest of my life knowing that every person in Australia or at least Sydney knows that I have been convicted of a

sexual

crime.

In my opinion, he really focused on him and how he had been victimized, you know, I would like him to live a day in the life of Saxon to really feel what victimization is like. He did not admit any guilt, but he apologized to Saxon for the fact that he unknowingly did this to her. I am absolutely sick to my stomach, I am so sorry for her, I would never intentionally hurt someone and for Saxon from the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry, the Lazarus family was torn apart when Luke was sent to jail, the son of the owner of a Sydney nightclub.

He will spend at least three years in prison for raping an 18-year-old woman. He had an inflated sense of superiority of power and rights. Luke Lazarus thought he was invincible. Luke Lazarus was sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison without parole. What was his reaction? There's a little bit of relief, not just that it's over, but that they believed me, and then there's a little bit of inevitable guilt. You know, I can't help but feel like I destroyed someone's life. life the impact on saxon mullen's life was far from over luke lazarus appealed against his conviction and won the appeals court found that the judge had erred in his instructions to the jury on the question of whether luke lazarus thought that saxon mullins was giving his consent was released After spending 11 months in jail awaiting a new

trial

, I am looking forward to a new

trial

.

I am excited to clear my name in the future. The court decided that due to saturation of media coverage, Luke Lazarus was unable to obtain a fair jury trial in the

case

. He would be heard before a judge alone. The new trial was heard by Judge Robin Tupman. I think we always expected that Lazarus would appeal on his own given the amount of resources he has, but I didn't really think he would be successful. I thought my sister. she had been

rape

d and you know that going through a retrial would just be another traumatic experience for her to think that she had to go through that again or that saxon would have to relive that experience again was heartbreaking.

Judge Tupman took a different view of the situation. evidence that she did not accept saxon mullins was so drunk that she could not have given consent and accepted luke lazarus's account that saxon had not told her to stop because in her first police statement saxon had said i think at one point i told him that stop immediately after a

sexual

assault, most people are so confused that they are trying to make sense of what happened to them and the idea of ​​going and describing a really intimate sexual experience to a complete stranger in a police station is really difficult for most people.

He judges that he preferred Luke Lazarus' version of events. She thrust into him and then back and forth as anal intercourse took place. She didn't say to stop or not. She did not take any physical action to distance herself from intercourse or attempt it. I am Professor Annie Cosins from the University of New South Wales and I was involved in drafting the new legislation on consent laws in 2005. It is well known by psychiatrists and psychologists that there are actually three responses to fear: There is a fight , a flight and a freeze response. It usually occurs when the person can see that fight and flight are not options for them.

Judge Tupman thought it was irrelevant whether Luke Lazarus swore at Saxon Mullins when he told her to put her hands on the wall and she accepted the evidence the defense witnesses said. that luke lazarus had good character the judge also relied on the evidence of a friend of luke lazarus who told the court that he had had anal sex on the first few dates this evidence was given in cross-examination by the crown it was not in character but, In my opinion, it provides an objective view of contemporary morality, so he used Saxon's lack of resistance and this term contemporary morality to come to the conclusion that Lazarus had formed a belief based on reasonable grounds.

Judge Tupman accepted that Saxon Mullins did not give her consent to have sex. night, but the critical point was whether Luke Lazarus knew she was not consenting to it. I stress that I do not accept that the plaintiff, by her actions, wanted to give her consent to have sexual relations and in her own mind she was not giving her consent to have sexual relations, whether she did or not. consented it is only one question whether or not the accused knew she was not consenting is another my name is stephen hodges i am the chair of the criminal law committee of the bar association of new south wales it is true that in our culture it is now desirable That We the People take steps to ensure that there is consent, that is what we all want in a socially advanced society, but to convict someone of a serious crime that can lead to jail time for many years, we demand that they have that consent. necessary guilty mind and the evidence to prove that is, in this

case

, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that there was no reasonable basis to believe that she was consenting and the judge was not satisfied that that was proven by the prosecution in this case.

Basically, she didn't believe my story, she didn't believe my timeline, she didn't know, believe me in May of last year, the judge found Luke Lazarus not guilty, how do you feel about this decision? Do you accept that Christian's young woman? believe she didn't give consent after the verdict there was a celebration at the Lazarus family home a photographer captured these photos of Luke and his guests the next morning that's just rude I really don't have anything good to say about it . I don't understand why they would do that if you think he's innocent, so that's great, but again you know why he was on trial.

You know I'm a real person. You know the ramifications of what happened but you clearly don't care, I think. It's just disgusting after the first trial when he was found guilty, we didn't have a party. Something Saxon always tells me is that you have to have compassion for people no matter what and Saxon is deeply compassionate even towards her abuser and the fact of her. That they had a party celebrating this triumph was very upsetting because she showed that they had little regard for the welfare of the Saxons or any concern for what she went through.

What did you do that night? I sat on the couch with my mom and sister and cried and went to bed last year the new south wales director of public prosecutions appealed judge tupman's decision to acquit luke lazarus and found for the second time that The trial judge had made an error under the law that Luke Lazarus had to have a reasonable belief that Saxon was consenting, but the court also had to look at what steps he took to reach that belief, the appeals court found. that judge tupman had not addressed this issue in her written ruling, there has to be some way to ensure that this reasonable belief is the concept of consent is a little more infallible, that's what i think needs to be modified, you know, Think about the jury, the 12 lay people who meet every day of the week and participate in sexual assault trials with whom they have to reach an agreement. this language and I think we need to give them more guidance on how to apply this particular test because if two judges can be wrong, what hope does a jury have?

Well, exactly, that's right, these are not easy concepts to address in criminal law. a forceful and brutal method of social education yes, we want to educate our community to participate and behave in a civilized manner, but criminal law should not be relied upon as a key mechanism to do so, even though the appeals court ruled That Judge Tupman had made a legal error did not order a third trial because it would be unfair to Luke Lazarus who had already spent 11 months in prison. The court weighed the competing considerations and concluded that it would be oppressive to order a third trial and concluded that that, in the interests of justice, there should not be a new trial.

I guess it's this kind of instant feeling of deflating, that's all we had and within two seconds they just said, "No, it's over." I was like five. years later I just didn't know what to do it still hurt like everything had to end for everyone else there are no other ways everyone is done everyone goes home and then it's just me and I'm still here and I'm still doing Although it's not happening anymore, I'm still living it. Saxon Mullins has tried to move on with his life. Saxon probably hasn't slept a full night. I don't think she wakes up every morning and she's tired.

She is extremely anxious. I think all the time I think that anxiety is something she lives with now with little things, like she doesn't like walking alone on unlit streets at night, um, I think there's a little bit of joy that gets lost in her, It's hard to talk about this because I don't really talk to her about this because I wouldn't tell her that she's different, it was like there was like a light in her, she was so bright, she was so happy, everyone loved Saxon like everyone loves her. and um, this light is just not there anymore this week, it will be five years since saxon mullen's ordeal began.

I am so proud of saxon and the strength and courage she has shown. She may be my little sister, but I look. It depends on her more than anyone and I hope that she gives strength to other people that, despite the result, the right thing to do is to show up and know how to persevere and tell her story because people should not get away with this. saxon the streets of king's cross are quiet now soho was sold to developers but the images of that night have never left saxon mullen's mind on a social level i think we need to teach people how to make sure the person you are with wants Being with you and your enthusiastic consent is very easy to determine and I think yes, if you don't have it then you are not ready to leave, all you need to say is if you want to be here and very clearly if you want to have it. sex with me you want to do what we are doing and if it is not an enthusiastic yes then it is not enough if it is not an enthusiastic yes it is a no that is all and then you are committing a crime as simple as that