Woman who accuses Opposition Leader Bill Shorten of rape says police failed her
David Hurley, Herald Sun
October 1, 2014 9:05pm


A WOMAN who claims she was raped by federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has accused Victoria Police of failing to investigate properly because of his position of power.

Earlier this year, authorities decided not to press charges against Mr Shorten because prosecutors felt that “there was no reasonable prospect of conviction”.

The woman, Kathy, asked that her surname not be published, but agreed to be photographed.

Interviewed by the Herald Sun in Queensland, she said the trauma of what she says happened to her had been exacerbated by what she sees as an inadequate police investigation.

“I had three main witnesses ... I gave them the phone number of one, her maiden and married names, told them she lived in Melbourne.

“The police told me they couldn’t find her,” Kathy said.

“But they went to all of Bill’s friends,’’ she said.

Mr Shorten’s press secretary Ryan Liddell last night referred to Mr Shorten’s statement in August: “The claim has now been thoroughly and rigorously investigated by police, as is entirely proper.’’

Mr Shorten said then: “I fully co-operated to clear my name. And that is what I have done ... The police have now concluded the investigation. The decision speaks for itself.”

A Victoria Police spokesman said the force was satisfied that the matter had been “fully investigated”.
CON"T

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Kathy told the Herald Sun she felt let down and devastated by how police had handled the matter.

“With another witness, the police tried to say she was influenced by the media, which doesn’t make any sense.

“I don’t think I had a hope in hell with the police because of who he is,” Kathy said.

“If Bill was just a regular guy I think it would have been different. The police would have had a load of evidence to do something.

“I left it in the hands of the police, and they did nothing.”

Kathy, now 44, alleges Mr Shorten raped her at a Labor youth conference in Portarlington in the winter of 1986, when she was just 16.

The community nurse completed a 19-page police statement with detectives from Victoria Police’s sexual offences squad last October 23.

“The police rang me up in April and told me they had called Bill in for questioning.

“They then said the case was closed and that they weren’t going to reopen it,” Kathy said.

“They said I would not be able to get access to any of the evidence. They said I could apply through Freedom of Information but I wouldn’t get it.

“I never really had a leg to stand on. They have tried to bully me,” she said.

“ I have got rights, and they are trying to take away my rights. People are treating me like a nutcase.

“It doesn’t mean I’m stupid or I’m fabricating things.”

Kathy had a rapid rise in Young Labor when elected to the rural policy committee.

She became a delegate for party state and national conferences in 1986.

Soon after joining Labor she says she came to know Mr Shorten — himself a rising star in the party.

After he travelled to Wodonga to meet local members, Kathy says she began speaking to him on the phone regularly about party and policy issues.

Kathy says she and her sister went to Portarlington for the youth Labor conference during the winter of 1986.

I found this Guardian article written by the wife of one of the Church's many victims very compelling so to speak.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/andrew-bolt-please-stop-implying-that-you-know-all-the-facts-about-george-pell

In it she with a fair degree of dignity addresses Andrew Bolt's claims of “overwhelming evidence” that Pell's conviction was unjust.

Several points worth repeating.

Regarding the other child involved had denying being abused when his mother rightly suspected he had;

“I asked my own husband about this. Although Brother Edward Dowlan had molested and raped him in 1974, when his parents asked him in 1975 if anything had happened to him, his response was to vehemently deny it. He states, “You deny it because you don’t want them to feel guilty. You don’t want them to carry the guilt of having sent you to this wonderful school, within their wonderful Church….only for you to be abused. So you just deny it, to protect them”.”

And when talking about the time lapse between the abuse and reporting it;

“Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse Final Report (2017) found that the average time it took for men to disclose was 25.7 years. The surviving choirboy disclosed 19 years after his abuse – earlier than average. The other choirboy died 18 years after his abuse, so was also well inside the average.”

For all those who keep saying without collaborating evidence from another witness then a conviction should not have been delivered. You realise that Pell's one time room mate Ridsdale who has been convicted of abusing literally hundreds of children in his care would not have been jailed if your standard of proof was accepted by the courts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ridsdale

The victims had a right to put their case and have it believed if it is compelling. They were in Ridsdale's case and now he is rightly behind bars. Why isn't Pell's victim being afforded the same by certain posters here?

Dear Philip S,

Are you really so thick that you would write something like this?

“If the appeal is successful and you call him that enjoy your day in court for defamation. Also if he is guilty on the uncorroborated evidence of one person your mate Shorten should therefore watch his back. Only difference is Shorten has the Victoria police money can buy or politically appoint.”

Pell is currently a convicted abuser so Foxy can go hell for leather.

You on the other hand have accused Shorten of bribery and Victorian police as corrupt. Mate I would be far more concerned about ending up in court if I was you. Perhaps you might want to ask the moderator to remove your post.

Idiot.

I'm confused now. Pell is found guilty on someone's say-so. Shorten has charges dropped against him because they are based on nothing more than someone's say-so. And a woman at that. Whatever happened to Metoo# ?

Surely there was much more presented in court against Pell in secret ? Maybe the person who tried to bring charges of rape against Shorten recanted ? Clearly, the two cases are like chalk and cheese.

Joe

SteeleRedux Quote "Are you really so thick that you would write something like this?"

** Obviously not as thick as you for not understanding my statement, helps if you read the first five words 'If the appeal is successful' **

In future please activate brain before applying fingers to keyboard, so as not to put foot in mouth.

You know the other person has lost when they have to resort to calling people "Idiot."