Sexual offence allegations are among the most serious a person can face, and they require careful, confidential and experienced representation.
Our expertise in sexual offences includes (but is not limited to)
- Indecent assault
- Rape and sexual intercourse without consent
- Child sexual abuse
- Possession or distribution of child exploitation material
- Grooming and online offences
- False allegations
Hubber Legal provides respectful, confidential, and determined defence for clients facing these charges. We carefully review police procedures, digital evidence, and witness statements to uncover inconsistencies and protect your rights.
We advise and represent clients during police investigations, at committal, and in Supreme Court trials, pleas and sentencing proceedings.
If you have been contacted but not charged
Police will sometimes make contact well before any charge is laid, asking you to attend for an interview or to provide a version of events.
This is the point at which advice matters most, and it is the point at which people most often do not seek it, usually because they believe that agreeing to an interview will demonstrate they have nothing to hide.
An investigation is not a conversation. What you say is recorded, transcribed and becomes evidence, and it will be scrutinised for inconsistency for years afterwards. Get advice before you decide whether to participate.
Consent
The law in this area has changed significantly across Australia in recent years, and the Northern Territory position has its own features.
Consent is not established by an absence of resistance, and it can be withdrawn at any point. The prosecution must prove both the absence of consent and the accused's state of mind about it, and the way that second element is assessed has been the subject of substantial reform.
What that means in practice is that cases turn on detail: the specific sequence of events, what was said, what was communicated by conduct, and what was reasonably understood at the time.
What happens next
These matters are dealt with in the Supreme Court. The sequence generally runs: charge, bail application, committal proceedings in the Local Court, indictment, pre-trial applications, then trial.
The process is long, and it is intrusive. Complainants in these matters have protections that affect how evidence is given and what can be asked, and understanding those rules is central to how a defence is run.
Where a matter proceeds to a plea, sentencing in this area carries its own regime and specific considerations apply.
Confidentiality
Everything you tell us is privileged. We understand that people facing these allegations frequently cannot talk to their family, their employer or their friends about what is happening, and that the isolation is its own burden.
We will not discuss your matter with anyone without your instructions, and we do not publish or promote the matters we act in.
How these cases are defended
Issues commonly include consent and the accused's belief about it, identification, the reliability and consistency of accounts, delay in complaint and what it does and does not indicate, the admissibility of prior sexual history and other evidence, forensic and medical evidence, and electronic communications between the parties.