SECRECY WIN FOR MOVER & SHAKER
Ashley Argoon
A high-profile Melbourne mover and shaker who mixes with entertainment and sports A-listers has won a gag order to keep his identity a secret after being charged with rape.
A court heard this week that he was so traumatised by his arrest that he suffers PTSD.
The man, in his 60s, has spent the past four months fighting to stop his identity from being revealed after he was charged with four sex offences in August.
On Tuesday, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court granted a ban on his name and job being revealed by the media, after hearing four medical experts speak about the “significant risk” to his mental health.
The court heard police arrested the man at his home in March after a woman alleged she was sexually assaulted.
Defence barrister, Dermot Dann KC, who fought for the suppression order, said there had been “drug use, alcohol use” that night, and that the alleged victim claimed “a physical altercation” occurred during which she was injured by the accused man.
He was later charged with two counts of rape, one of sexual assault and one of attempted rape.
The Melbourne identity was locked in a police cell for up to four hours following his arrest on March 24, and later told his GP he felt “humiliated” at having to be escorted by officers if he needed to go to the toilet.
His “experience with being arrested was torture”, Dr Michael Olenski told the court in November, stating his patient told him police used “intimidation tactics” in interviewing him.
“He felt like a criminal and couldn’t understand why he was put in a cell, why he was followed to the bathroom … it has affected him adversely,” Dr Olenski said.
Days after his arrest, the court heard the man went to the GP and described having “nightmares” and “flashbacks” over his arrest, and would “break out in anxiety and fear” when he went past the police station where he was held.
The doctor diagnosed him with PTSD.
However, he didn’t consult any diagnostic criteria when making that assessment, he told prosecutor Jessica Van Dyk, who fought against the suppression on behalf of the Office of Public Prosecutions.
The GP also noted the man’s PTSD was “specifically related to Melbourne”, and said he’d given him a medical green light to travel interstate and overseas on holiday.
Dr Olenski said if the man’s identity was made public, it would “almost certainly lead to urgent admission to a private psychiatric hospital” and that he’d be a “high risk” of making a suicide attempt.
“Everything changes if the media gets hold of this … his whole life changes,” he said.
Magistrate Belinda Franjic said it appeared the potential of media reporting was “intrinsically linked” to the man’s psychiatric responses.
The accused is expected to face a three-day hearing in June where the evidence against him will be tested.
[email protected]