On May 12, 2013 a Sydney man Mr Lazarus was accused of raping an 18 year old woman in an alley outside his father’s nightclub. This case caused discussion about NSW sexual consent laws. This case clearly highlights the effectiveness and some major flaws of the legal system.
During the first jury trial in NSW District Court Mr Lazarus was convicted for rape without sexual consent and resulted in a maximum of five-year prison sentence. After serving in prison for 11 months the Court of Criminal Appeal conducted a second trial for the case which resulted in an acquittal as Judge Tupman claimed that Mr Lazarus truly did believe that Ms Mullins did consent which is a crucial element of the offence of sexual intersource without consent. This
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This is seen as being effective as it is promoting the need to change existing sexual consent laws hopefully in order to achieve justice. This also highlight responsiveness of the government to responding to issues of the legal system regarding the NSW sexual consent laws. Another effectieve part of the legal system seen in this case is enforceability of the sexual consent laws. Although Mr Lazarus did undertake rape “without consent” he truly believed that Ms Mullins gave consent which according to the NSW sexual consent law stating that the accused must know the victim is not consenting is technically proof of enforceability of the law by Mr Lazard as he believed she gave consent. This case showed the effectiveness of protecting individual rights to a fair hearing as they allowed Mr Lazarus and Ms Millins to conduct a fair trial under section 24 of the Charter. This case also shows the effectiveness of the legal system in protecting individuals rights to not be tried or punished more than once under section 26. This is shown as the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions had urged that it would be oppressive as he already served 11 months of his sentence therefore the acquittal remained the