Chapter 1: What are the charges against Craig McLachlan related to C2?
Prosecutors have a duty to the community not to bring persons to trial on suspect evidence. Unfortunately, in recent times, judges like myself have seen many examples of cases being pursued with no reasonable prospect of conviction with the inevitable result of an acquittal.
Accordingly, it would seem to me that the initial critical assessment process in respect of the available evidence is simply not undertaken.
Judge Conlon, The Australian, December 16, 2023. Paul Murray. Um...
Like, I didn't trust her. And that was Christy. And I've worked with Christy before. We've been friends. And I started getting increasingly paranoid that she was saying things about me behind my back because I'd been told that she was saying things about other people and that she was bad news.
verbally spoke about how she was going to make Craig pay for not getting cast in the 2018 Rocky Horror Show.
For editorial and legal reasons, the names of Craig's accusers and witnesses of this matter have been changed.
My name is Vanessa Scammell, and in the previous episode, I delved into four of the criminal charges that were laid against Craig McLachlan in relation to his Rocky Horror Show colleague, C2. Four charges whereby Craig was found not guilty. Where the magistrate ruled that...
Number 497. The tendency evidence from C2 provides weak to moderate support for the likelihood but be accused's intention was to tunkus or indecently assault C2. And... Number 687. I am not persuaded by the evidence that the element of indecency has been made out.
In episode 5, I delve into the final charge that relates to C2, which leads into the worrying credit issues of this complainant. But even more disturbingly, what comes to light is the seeming unwillingness of the magistrate to shine a spotlight on this witness's inconsistencies and ambiguities, an unwillingness to cast unflattering light upon a complainant,
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Chapter 2: How does the legal process assess witness credibility?
What evidence and information has not been revealed publicly in relation to this charge and the complainant known as C2? And, ultimately, why was Craig McLachlan found not guilty? As mentioned, there was no act alleged in the particulars. This is but one of the astonishing facts of this case, the DPP versus McLaughlin.
It seems a man can be charged with an attempted assault, but have no explanation given as to what that assault even was. The charge sheet simply read, the accused, Craig McLaughlin, in Melbourne between April 20 and 13 July 2014, did attempt to assault C2. Details finally emerged.
Victorian police particulars of allegations. During the song Going Home in the final show in Melbourne, July 13th, 2014, Craig McLachlan knelt down in front of C2, stopped singing, studied her face, grabbed the side of her shoulders and pulled her in. He leant in to kiss her on the mouth. She forcefully pushed him off her before he could kiss her. He fell on his heels sideways.
He looked back at her in shock before glaring intensely. She burst into tears. She told her husband about it. Witness Evidence C2's husband said that on the night of the final show, she had told him that during the going home scene, Craig was being intimate and personal with her and she did something to protect herself.
Craig was therefore charged for an attempted indecent assault for attempting to kiss C2 during a scene of the Rocky Horror Show in Melbourne in 2014.
Let's go to court.
Please note that names have been changed for legal and privacy reasons and that emails, texts and various court quotes and rulings are being read by actors.
In court, C2's husband was questioned about the attempted kiss.
What did your wife tell you about what occurred at the end of the season?
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Chapter 3: What inconsistencies exist in the complainant's evidence?
Alongside me was the Rocky Horror Show choreographer, who did not see any such thing, nor did the producers or resident director of the show who also sat in on that performance, all who gave evidence to support this in court proceedings. If a leading man were to fall over on stage or be pushed over on stage, it would appear in the show report, without question.
Yet there was never a show report relating to Craig falling over or being pushed over on stage by any actor, not on this date, not on any other date of the show's run. Not a single cast or crew member could give evidence of such an occurrence taking place on stage.
Nor did a single cast member give evidence of seeing C2 in tears whilst on stage during her alleged description of the attempted assault on the final performance. You will recall that after Craig's accusers gave evidence, the allotted time for the case had run out, leaving the matter to be adjourned for another five months. Then, just weeks before the case was to reconvene, COVID-19 hit.
The Victorian legal system basically shut down overnight and the case was delayed for another six months. In real terms, this meant that Craig would not get to give his evidence for another year, an entire year after his accusers had given theirs to a most sympathetic magistrate.
Six months later, in May 2020, this attempted indecent assault charge was thrown out of court by the magistrate who ruled the following.
The evidence of the physical movement so to comprise the attempt is neutral. The accused's intention may have been to stop without any touching. It may have been to kiss her on the cheek or an air kiss or other gesture. Without more, we are in the realm of speculation rather than competing inferences.
Back in January 2018, the journalists published this as Craig having created an unscripted moment on stage. Perhaps if the police or journalists had asked C2, or anyone from the production for that matter,
For a copy of the archival video of the show, it would have shown that the direction between Frankenfurter, played by Craig, and this ensemble character in this moment of the show had been exactly the same from the beginning of the tour right through to the end. In fact, the same direction is evident in the 2015 Rocky Horror Show tour. Frank would approach C2's character.
He would engage with her in a brief moment, all the while singing his big goodbye song. His direction was to interact with her. He may touch her forehead with his head or give her a gentle touch on the face with his hand. Seconds later, he would walk to centre stage to take position for the next lighting cue, all over and done with within seconds. But they didn't.
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Chapter 4: What evidence was presented for the attempted indecent assault charge?
Why would a prosecutor sign off on charges like this when the likelihood of a conviction would appear to be zero? The next question I ask is this. Did the police consider C2's ambiguities and inconsistencies in relation to the other charges? Why did they not question her credibility, her changing police statements, her varied and exaggerated stories with journalists?
Even if they had, with the pressure of hashtag MeToo and Believe All Women, would the DPP have been brave enough not to charge Craig McLachlan? It seemed that the optics of prosecuting Craig and laying as many charges as possible was the objective of the Victorian Police and the DPP back in 2018 when the frenzied Me Too movement was in freefall.
I will now focus on some other claims and accusations C2 made against Craig McLaughlin to further evaluate the credibility of this complainant and the seeming neglect by Victorian police to properly investigate her allegations before charges were laid. Terry Goldsworthy, former detective inspector and academic in the field of criminal justice, said...
Public allegations of sexual assault have seen a reversal of the presumption of innocence, where those accused are seen as guilty until the opposite is shown. In these instances, there is no room for testing the rigor of the evidence against the accused. It is not the job of the detectives to deliver a half-done brief to the DPP.
It is their job to conduct all investigative inquiries, including those that may diminish a complainant's version if there are ambiguities or inconsistencies in the version.
The ensemble member known as C2, having performed in the 2014 production and having decided not to partake in the 2015 tour due to failure to secure a principal role, her desire to perform in the Rocky Horror Show was not yet over. In 2017, it was announced that another tour was going to take place, a third tour of the Rocky Horror Show, to start in 2018.
Craig's TV show, The Dr Blake Mysteries by now, had cemented itself into the hearts of Australian audiences and it was winning its time slot each and every week. When producers approached Craig to do this third consecutive tour of Rocky, it was a juggling act to fit it in between filming of the Blake show.
But Craig's love of Rocky meant that he had decided that one more lap in Lippy was what he wanted to do. So they made it work. A number of previous cast members applied to return. They applied with full knowledge that Craig had already been cast in the leading role of Frankenfurter.
During these auditions, C2 messaged an actor who had been a cast member in previous productions who was also re-auditioning for his role in the show. In court, this cast member had given evidence that not long after the 2014 tour had ended, C2 had told him that a kiss had taken place on stage with Craig that she felt had taken a little longer than it was meant to
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Chapter 5: What role did media coverage play in the case?
Let's go to court.
The following is a reenactment. These are not actual transcripts or voices of the witnesses, but are words to the effect of what was spoken in court.
You spoke to C2 again around September or October 2017? Yes. She said that her agent had contacted the production, but that she hadn't been successful. Is that correct? That's right. And did she mention Mr McLaughlin in that conversation to you? Yes. What did she say?
She said that she believed or questioned and asked me for my opinion as to whether Craig would have contributed to her not being accepted into this new production. And what did you say? I said I didn't believe that that was his role or that he had the power to influence casting. And what was her demeanour like? Oh, increasingly aggressive.
She was talking about not getting into the production and why she believed she didn't get into the production and then also saying that this was going to be like the final push to make her decide to do something about how she felt about Craig back in 2014.
Okay, so up until that point, the only conversation you'd ever had about a possible complaint was C2 telling you some years earlier that she didn't think it was serious enough. Is that right? Correct.
Further, this same cast member spoke about his personal relationship with C2.
My relationship with C2 changed because I was devastated that she'd decided to complain about something she'd already decided wasn't serious enough because her ego was bruised when she wasn't given a part in the new production. I thought it was a devastating thing for someone to do and therefore I couldn't be friendly with someone whose actions I'd so disagreed with
In summing up this cast member's evidence, we go to the magistrate's ruling, number 243.
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Chapter 6: How did the magistrate evaluate the evidence against Craig McLachlan?
C2 made allegations that the first understudy had complained to her that she had to fight Craig off when he tried to force his way into her shower when she was inside, alone, naked, wet and afraid. And second, that he had removed her underwear and kissed her vagina under the covers during the Janet's bed scene.
When the first interview with C2 was undertaken with the journalists back in December of 2017, this is the conversation that transpired.
It was like relentless. Craig would try and get into the shower when she was in the shower.
Really?
Yeah. She told me that whenever we went on for one of our understudy roles, we got taken out of our dressing room and put into a dressing room on our own. And by the time we got to Melbourne, in Melbourne, there were no locks in the bathroom doors on the dressing room.
So Craig would go into her dressing room, which was actually C1's dressing room, and he'd try and open the door while she was in the shower and she had to physically, like, hold it shut.
Oh, oh, God.
And it became like a game for him and he was like, come on, Whitney, and, like, trying to get her to let him in. And she was like, no. But she was, like, naked and wet and just holding the door shut.
And then this.
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Chapter 7: What were the implications of the MeToo movement on this case?
But that's when I was meaning. With further pressure placed on her as to whether the first understudy had told her about this assault, she essayed the I don't remember saying any of this in that detail tactic, but was confronted with the sound recording of her actual words played to the court and thereafter capitulated. So what of the first understudy?
When she was taken to this evidence in her cross-examination by Craig's barrister, she rejected it as false.
It would be grossly untrue to say that Craig ever took my underwear off. To say that would be a lie. Equally untrue to say Craig ever kissed my vagina.
The other fabrications that C2 had given in her evidence in relation to this same castmate, to each and every one, the first understudy rejected them. Further, it became apparent that not only were C2's allegations fabrications, her fellow castmate never complained of offensive conduct to anyone of her experience on the Rocky Horror Show.
C2's dishonest allegations were directed to the press, were then incorporated into her police statement, but neither the press, police nor the prosecutor bothered to ask the person in question who was allegedly assaulted if these claims were true.
The journalists incorporated these accusations into the initial email that Craig received, with no substantiating evidence, no names, no solid details, just vague, broad and damning allegations. In fact, when Craig received the first email outlining these allegations, the journalists had not even interviewed TFU to get her side of the story, but they accused Craig nonetheless.
So where were the questions that should have been asked by the journalists way back in 2017? Where was the investigation in investigative journalism? Perhaps a pertinent question the journalists could have asked was, how on earth did Craig manage to remove that castmate's costume, underwear, mic belt, suspenders, heels and stockings whilst performing this scene in around four to seven seconds?
for this is approximately how long this part of the scene runs for, whilst performing this scene in the Rocky Horror Show of 2014. As Craig's barrister surmised, So let's look at the magistrate's rulings pertaining to C2. Number 92.
She did not remember telling the ABC that the accused had removed Sh**'s underwear and kissed her on the vagina. Number 96. I had no reason to doubt C2's truthfulness, but there were issues of reliability. Her memories of what she observed and was told about as offending against others was confused and sometimes prone to exaggeration. Number 122.
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Chapter 8: What conclusions can be drawn about the reliability of witness testimonies?
Her lies and fabrications had already been cemented in print and on recordings. Her confusion came two years later when she had to recall what she had said all of those years ago. And now let's go to the magistrate's ruling number 748. The four complainants were brave and honest witnesses. It's important now to reference commentary by Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, the Chief Justice of the ACT.
There's an irretractable problem in that our overriding task and function is to ensure the accused person has a fair trial.
The Australian, 2024, Janet Albrookson. In response to these comments, Steve Wybrow QC has since told the Criminal Law Committee that he is...
And even more pertinently, Janet Albrechtson makes this observation...
McAllen's public foray raises an important question for the criminal justice system. Are we to have two different cross-examination rules for a defendant in a sexual assault case compared with those, say, in a murder trial?
Has the presumption of innocence been eroded? Did the MeToo movement impact on the judgment presented by the presiding magistrate in Craig's case? Should these sort of gross inventions presented in court not be held up as an example of an extremely dishonest complainant?
In contrast, the magistrate was quick to call Mr. Littlemore out on his robust cross-examination, a cross-examination that seemingly caused C2 to unravel. cross-examination that got to the truth. Did the cultural movement of believing all women and the cultural movement of Me Too infiltrate the criminal matter that Craig was being tried for?
Did the magistrate protect the victim even when that witness committed perjury? Even when there was hard evidence that she made outright lies to journalists and to police and then in court? When those lies are refuted by the person who was alleged to have been assaulted?
The predominant headlines upon Craig's acquittal were not about the lack of reliability of any witness, not that he was not guilty, but that the complainants were brave and honest. A blanket statement that was so obviously aimed at protecting the complainants' reputations, leaving an innocent man who had just been found not guilty of 13 charges wondering how on earth he was to ever rehabilitate.
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