Our client is a 32 year old man who was in Sydney for an information technology project for a multinational company.
He was staying at a hotel in the Sydney CBD when he met a woman in the bar area.
The two had a number of drinks together while engaging in conversation.
At one point, our client had trouble with completing a task which the woman assisting him with, after which our client went to hug her.
While doing this, the woman pulled back and ultimately complained to staff that our client touched her inappropriately on the buttocks and breast.
Our client was adamant he did nothing of the sort and was only trying to give her a hug.
Police were called and arrested our client, conveyed him to the police station and – based solely on the complaint – charged him with sexual touching.
We promptly contacted the hotel to ensure the CCTV footage was not deleted or recorded over.
We subpoenaed the footage and saw that it corroborated our client’s version of the events.
We forwarded detailed representations to police calling for the charge to be withdrawn.
Police refused and the case ultimately proceeded to a defended hearing, after which the charge was withdrawn and police were ordered to pay our client’s legal costs on the basis that they failed to attend to matters (namely to obtaining the footage themselves, before charging our client) which established the innocence of our client.