The revocation of a suppression order protecting the identity of a rapist is an important moment in holding NSW courts to account on principles of open justice.
The revocation of a suppression order protecting the identity of a rapist who terrified women on the north shore during the 1990s and, after a 2020 court decision muzzling the media from publishing his name, indecently assaulted another young woman two years ago, is an important moment in holding courts to account on open justice principles.to publicly name Graham James Kay, the so-called North Shore Rapist.
The NSW government has serious questions to answer about why an order that helped Kay to re-offend was made. Kay’s ability to remain anonymous is just the tip of an iceberg. The number of suppression orders taken out across Australia has grown like a blight on the judicial framework. In the first six months of this year 467 suppression orders were circulated to the media . Last year they totalled 1111 and have been mounting steadily since 2017 when 857 were circulated or notified.
And it is a blight. The media can be prevented from publishing names, but the biggest potential victims may be the people of NSW, who are kept ignorant of the identities of rapists, murderers, terrorists and gangsters simply because the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 does not require courts to explain their decisions or even acknowledge they have been asked to suppress names.It was not meant to be like this.
, who said alienation of Australia’s middle class from the legal system and a lack of affordability for complainants to litigate were indicative of failures of Australia’s justice framework. The repeated granting of suppression orders to Kay exposes how easily the system can be gamed to keep the people of NSW in the dark. But the sunlight of public scrutiny is a crucial safeguard for the integrity of the court system, and only improves the administration of justice.– Since the Herald was first published in 1831, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.
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