The lawyer of a high-profile man accused of rape says he will apply to suppress his client’s identity as the Queensland government plans to pass new laws that could name him.
The man, who under existing Queensland law cannot be named until he’s committed to stand trial, faces two counts of rape in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, in October 2021.
However, the Queensland government has been planning to change laws that prohibit those charged of sexual offences from being named before their committal to trial.
The laws are unlikely to pass until at least the next sitting week from 12 September and need assent from the governor to take effect. Guardian Australia understands this won’t happen immediately. The laws will apply retrospectively and so could apply in the Toowoomba case.
The accused was excused from appearing at a committal mention at the Toowoomba magistrates court on Wednesday. His lawyer, Rowan King, phoned into the hearing.
King sought a one-week adjournment and indicated he plans to make an application to maintain the suppression of his client’s name.
“It’s intended that in the next two to three weeks that there will be legislation coming in that will potentially allow the naming of my client and it’s intended that we make an application to maintain the suppression of my client from publication,” King told the court.
A media bid to name the man failed in February after a magistrate deemed it “premature”.
Magistrate Kay Philipson denied King the one-week adjournment on Wednesday. She said he was welcome to file an application but it would not be heard in the next week when there were lots of “maybes”.
“If you want to make such an application it can’t be heard in the arrest court because we’re too busy in this jurisdiction. It has to be set down. You might have some difficulty finding a date,” Philipson said.
Meanwhile, a defence bid to access the alleged victim’s phone records was adjourned until next month to give prosecutors time to review the material.
The defence had previously requested the victim provide 19 months of phone data, including six months of data before the date of the alleged offence.
Crown prosecutor Sarah Dreghorn sought a four-week adjournment after police agreed on Wednesday to provide her with the data.
Dreghorn said the crown would not be disclosing any material until they’ve reviewed the data themselves.
The magistrate adjourned the case for four weeks, with the next hearing scheduled for 20 September.
