Warning: this article contains references to rape and sexual assault.
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article → contain → rape
Serene spent four years fighting to bring the massage therapist who she alleged raped her when she was 21 years old to justice.
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she → spend → justice
The Brisbane-based digital accessibility consultant was under no illusion the judicial process would be testing.
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process → base → illusion
But she didn’t expect to encounter a system that not only fails victim-survivors, but actively harms them.
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she → expect → them
“I thought somebody was there to protect my interests,” Serene, 29, says.
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Serene → think → interests
“I thought somebody was looking out for me.
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somebody → think → me
“It took years before I realised that wasn’t actually the case.”
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that → take → years
These systemic failures were exemplified by the way information Serene assumed to be confidential was used against her throughout the trial.
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Serene → exemplify → trial
Three weeks before the proceedings were scheduled to begin, she was told by prosecutors that defence lawyers had obtained her medical records, including hundreds of pages of hospital files.
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lawyers → schedule → files
Clinical notes from a psychologist and psychiatrist were also accessed.
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notes → access → psychologist
“We are meant to be protected,” Serene says.
“[But his defence team] got over 500 pages of my health records … and they used them in court.
“When I got told that … I was hysterical.
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I → mean → that
I was crying so much going, ‘what do you mean?
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you → cry → what
This person assaulted me, and now they’ve got a free-for-all on my medical records’.
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they → assault → records
Health records and counselling notes are frequently sought in court proceedings, but laws prevent sensitive information from being automatically shared.
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laws → seek → information
In Queensland, defence, prosecution and police must seek permission to subpoena health records, and independent legal services can help victims fight for sensitive information to remain confidential.
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information → seek → records
In Serene’s case, prosecutors failed to intervene before her hospital records were shared, and emails obtained after the trial show a mental health clinic improperly acted on subpoena notice, handing over her clinical file to defence lawyers before a decision by the court had been reached.
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decision → fail → court
“We are so let down at every stage,” she says.
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she → let → stage
“We’re victim-survivors, and we are treated as criminals.
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we → ’re → criminals
“They access everything and use it out of context against you.
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They → access → you
It’s just the most traumatic experience.”
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It → ’ → ?
Silke Meyer, a Griffith University criminologist and domestic, family and sexual violence researcher, says victim-survivors often assume medical records are confidential, and are unaware they can be subpoenaed in court.
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they → say → court
While legal services exist to protect sensitive records, many victim-survivors are not informed of judicial processes.
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survivors → exist → processes
“You need a victim-survivor or a complainant to be aware of [these services] to seek that kind of legal advice,” Meyer says.
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Meyer → need → advice
“The irony is … that you’ve got victim-survivors who seek therapeutic support for the kind of trauma that someone inflicted on them, and then in the end, seeking that support is used against them.”
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seeking → get → them
It took years for Serene to confront her alleged assault by a trusted health professional.
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Serene → take → professional
At the time of the attack, she was training for a bodybuilding competition and had sustained an injury.
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she → train → injury
A trainer at her gym referred her to a massage therapist on Brisbane’s north side.
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trainer → refer → side
Serene says the man, then aged in his late 30s, raped her during their second appointment.
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man → say → appointment
“He got me in the most vulnerable position that you could think of,” she recalls.
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she → get → that
“I had [acupuncture] needles in my upper back, my arms over the table, and my head through a hole.
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I → have → hole
Serene’s mental health deteriorated in the years after the assault.
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health → deteriorate → assault
At one point, she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition seized by the defence during the trial.
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she → misdiagnose → trial
“I’ve never been psychotic in my life,” she explains.
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she → explain → life
“I was really unwell, and unfortunately, I went and saw a junior psychiatrist who was trained under a bipolar specialist.
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who → go → specialist
“That [diagnosis has] been overturned, and I’ve been correctly diagnosed with complex PTSD.
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I → overturn → PTSD
“But because of the mistake that doctor made, it caused so much grief in this court case.”
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it → make → case
Serene decided to report her rape after reading an article calling for information about a massage therapist being investigated for sexual assault crimes.
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Serene → decide → crimes
It was not the same man who she says assaulted her in 2018, but through police, she learnt he had been subject to similar allegations by two other women.
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he → say → women
Their trial ended in a hung jury.
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trial → end → jury
“It was such a horrible moment when I found out that he had gone to trial.
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he → find → trial
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
