Queensland will abolish rape defence ‘loophole’ if law reform experts recommend it

The Attorney-General is referring the mistake of fact defence in rape cases to the Queensland Law Reform Commission for advice on how to change it.

The 110-year-old legal defence allows an accused rapist to argue they had a mistaken but honest and reasonable belief that sex was consensual.

It has been used by defendants including repeat violent offenders and those who argued that a woman’s behaviour, including previous flirting or visiting a man’s home, could be taken as consent.

The Government had been reviewing the use of the contentious defence since last May, when the ABC revealed the case of “Jayne”, a woman who nearly bled to death after a sexual encounter on the Gold Coast.

Source: Queensland will abolish rape defence ‘loophole’ if law reform experts recommend it – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

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