How Lily Steele-Park took her rapist to court and won

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

In 2019, Lily Steele-Park was in her first year of university and excited about what her future had in store.
But by July of that year, things had changed.
Warning: This story contains discussion of rape and sexual violence.
Lily was raped at a college campus by a man known to her friendship group.
"I came out of the room completely devastated," Lily told triple j's Hack. "[I] couldn't speak, couldn't stand up."
Several friends witnessed the immediate aftermath of the assault, but they did not support her.
"They told me to get over it and forget it and that it wasn't a big deal."
But Lily knew it was a big deal.
"I confided in one [friend] saying specifically that he had sexually assaulted me and afterwards a friend came up and was like, 'you shouldn't be saying that; you can get someone in a lot of trouble'. No-one thought going to the police was a good idea," Lily said.
Lily called her parents, and two days after the assault, they made a report to police.
"The detective was really kind and responsive and she was understanding and supportive of everything that I was telling her … She organised a forensic exam, they organised a counsellor to see me," Lily said.
At this stage, Lily still wasn't sure if she wanted to progress to making a formal statement to police. She tried "to return to normal life".
In the weeks and months after her the assault, none of her friends reached out to her. About two months after the assault, a friend posted a photo alongside Lily's rapist.
At this point, Lily was at her lowest ebb. Her mental health was deteriorating, and she was increasingly isolated from her group of friends.
Lily realised she needed a circuit breaker.
"The legal system for me was like an opportunity for drastic change in my life. So that's actually what pushed me [to press charges]."
Lily said the process of making a formal statement to police was "really validating".
"It was just nice not to carry it around," she said.
In 2022, just a week before her trial started, Lily joined support group The Survivor Hub. There, other victim-survivors gave her a glimpse of what to expect from the legal system, including the daunting cross-examination process.
"That helped me the most, because it was the scariest part."
There were other glimmers of hope, too. She'd started making new friends. One day, her perpetrator unexpectedly walked onto her campus.
One of Lily's new friends, a male, immediately stepped in and removed her from the room. Later, she saw a group of male friends dragging her rapist out.
"That was huge for me … It was really reaffirming that I was valued in my community."
Lily acknowledges that everyone's experience is different, but she found the court process empowering.
The process itself wasn't easy. Lily was made to give evidence over several days, a process she said was exhausting. She was told over and over again that conviction rates were low, and that the odds were against her.
According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, just 7 per cent of reported cases of sexual assault in the state in 2018, the most recent data set available, resulted in a conviction.
Just 15 per cent of reported cases to police resulted in a criminal charge, meaning the vast majority of reports resulted in no charges.
With those stats in mind, Lily learnt to celebrate the small victories at every step: from putting in a statement, to the perpetrator's arrest, to gaining enough evidence to go to trial.
In 2022, Lily's rapist was found guilty and sentenced to six years in jail, with a three-year non-parole period.
Lily chose not to tune in for the verdict.
"My dad called me and was like, 'we got him'".
Lily said the trial process made her release how much of a burden is put on victim-survivors.
"It feels like perpetrators step outside the law to weaponise themselves, their sex organs, their sexuality against innocent human beings, and then they step back into the law to be protected from our voices," she said.
Lily decided to share her story publicly in the hopes that other victim-survivors will see that justice through the legal system is possible.
"I just want victim-survivors to know that if you feel that going through the legal system is something you want to do, that it's something that can be done," she said.
"I also want victim-survivors to know that there is a whole community waiting to support them and embrace them and … we believe you."
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) was tasked with investigating why sexual assault conviction rates are so low, and what can be done to support victim-survivors in the justice system.
It handed its final report to government in March, making 64 recommendations, including more trauma-informed training for frontline services, greater education on consent and more investment in other pathways to justice like restorative justice and civil claims.
"Most perpetrators are not held to account, and the vast majority of people who experience sexual violence are not given the opportunity of a just outcome," ALRC President Justice Mordy Bromberg told the National Press Club in June.
The ALRC also recommended that victim-survivors have their own independent legal representation. The federal government has funded trials for lawyers who represent victims, rather than the state as currently stands, in Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.
Victim-survivor and co-founder of The Survivor Hub, Anna Coutts-Trotter, welcomed the move.
"People don't know that it's the state's case against the person who uses violence. It's not your case versus him; it's the state's case and you're a witness," she told triple j's Hack.
Advocates working in the domestic, family and sexual violence space say all level of governments need to invest more in specialist sexual assault services.
Madeleine Clifford from the National Association for Services against Sexual Violence told triple j's Hack that it's not good enough that where victim-survivors live determines what kind of support they can get.
"Services are being chronically underfunded, in some cases for decades, and that continues to be the case," she said.