A high-profile man accused of rape has been granted a temporary court order preventing him from being named when new Queensland laws come into effect next week.
In January the man was charged with two counts of raping a woman in Toowoomba in 2021, but he is yet to be committed to stand trial.
Under existing law in the state, a person accused of sexual offences cannot be named until they have been committed for trial – but that is set to change on Tuesday.
Queensland passed laws in September to allow the naming of accused sex offenders after they are charged. The laws were a recommendation of the women’s safety and justice taskforce in July 2022 and bring the state into line with most other states and territories.
The laws, which will be retrospective, will take effect on Tuesday 3 October. They would have been immediately relevant to the man’s case.
Under the legislation, accused offenders can apply to the court for an interim non-publication order to maintain their anonymity, but they cannot do so until the new laws come into effect.
The man’s lawyers have said they will apply for a non-publication order “as soon as practical” after the legislation comes into effect, according to a decision published on Friday by the supreme court of Queensland.
In the meantime, the court ruled that the status quo would apply by granting a temporary order.
“Given the publicity that the committal proceeding has attracted, there is a substantial risk that, unless a temporary order is made, media reports identifying the applicant as the defendant in the committal proceeding will be published as early at Tuesday 3 October 2023,” Justice Peter Applegarth wrote in the decision on Friday.
“The applicant’s right to apply … should not be defeated by such publicity.
“Without such a temporary order… his statutory right to apply for an [interim] order would be rendered nugatory and the application would have no utility.”
Queensland police did not oppose the injunction.
Earlier this year, media applied for the right to name the high-profile individual but were refused.
Last Wednesday, the court was adjourned for six weeks to give prosecutors time to trawl through the alleged victim’s phone data.
The man’s lawyer, Rowan King, had requested 19 months of phone data, including six months of data before the date of the alleged offence.
The next committal hearing in Toowoomba is scheduled for 1 November.
This story was updated on 29 September 2023 after an earlier version said an interim order had been made by the court. A temporary order has been made.
