Geoff Clark (politician) - Court Proceedings

Court Proceedings

In 2000 Clark was charged with the 1981 rape of his cousin, Joanne McGuinness, but a magistrate found there was insufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.

In 2001, press reports in The Age claimed that Clark was responsible for four rapes that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. McGuiness and Carol Stingel launched separate civil cases against Clark in 2002. Both alleged that he raped four women including McGuiness and Stingel. In 2003 further criminal charges of rape were filed by the Victoria Police but the charges were dismissed due to discrepancies in the evidence.

In 2003 it emerged that ATSIC had agreed to partially fund Clark's legal defence relating to a pub brawl where he was present. The commission's offer was later revoked. Nineteen charges were initially filed, with all but 'riotous behavior' and 'obstructing police' eventually dropped. Clark was convicted on both in his first trial, with the riotous behavior charge later dismissed on appeal.

In January 2007 a County Court of Victoria civil jury found that he had led two pack rapes in 1971. The victim, Carol Anne Stingel, suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome, was awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages and around $71,000 to cover legal costs. No punitive damages were awarded. In response to the question of whether it was "the lowest point in his life", Clark sarcastically described the ruling as "the lowest point in the history of this country".

In February 2007 Clark appealed the findings of the jury in the Stingel matter. His notice of appeal alleged the verdict to be 'perverse', that the trial judge misdirected the jury regarding failures to call corroborative witnesses on the part of the complainant, that the trial judge erred in ruling against the admission of certain evidence, and that the fairness of the trial process had been compromised by pre-trial publicity. In December 2007 he lost his appeal against the damages awarded against him.

In September 2011, Clark was one of the successful complainants in a racial discrimination case involving Herald Sun journalist Andrew Bolt, who in a 2009 article, claimed that Clark had used his part aboriginal ethnicity to gain social benefits. Clark said he took part in the action because of the general "tone" of Bolt's writing.