Australian Justice Secretary, accused of raping a minor 33 years ago, said he would not resign

Australia’s Justice Secretary on Wednesday denied having sex with a woman who accused him of raping her 33 years ago, when she was a 16-year-old, and said that He will not resign from his post as chief justice of the country.

Christian Porter He said he would take time off to take care of his mental health after the allegations were recently made public.

“I’m going to take a few weeks off for my own reason”he told reporters. “I think I can come back and do my job.”

The complainant committed suicide last year, and his the allegations against Porter were made public last week after being sent in anonymous letters to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison and other legislators.

Media had reported that the alleged rapist was one of 16 men in Morrison’s 22-member cabinet, although Porter was identified as a suspect online.

The former criminal prosecutor, 50 years old, said that he had decided to speak after police said on Tuesday there was not enough valid evidence to open a criminal investigation.

Prominent lawyers and friends of the woman have called for a independent investigation examining the evidence against Porter.

Morrison noted that Porter denies the allegations. and said it should be the police who handled the case.

But Michael Bradley, the alleged victim’s former lawyer said there would be a “media trial” in the absence of a formal investigation.

“We should not all wish this to happen, but it will happen if the charge and its response are not proven in a proper formal process,” he added. Bradley said.

Porter claimed the indictment did not justify his departure.

“If I leave my post as Secretary of Justice on an accusation of something that just didn’t happen, then anyone in Australia can lose their career, their job, their life’s work, just because of an accusation that appears in the media. “Porter said.

Porter said she was 17 when she competed alongside the then 16-year-old complainant in a four-person school debate team in January 1988. He said he hadn’t heard from her since.

“I did not sleep with the (alleged) victim. We had nothing of this nature between us “Porter said.

“I remember the person as an intelligent, bright and happy person”added.

The woman has not been named. Police prepare evidence to help a coroner determine the cause of his death.

Case strengthened scrutiny of attitude towards sexual harassment and violence in parliament, after an employee filed an unrelated complaint two weeks ago claiming that she was raped by a senior colleague in a minister’s office.

The government informed Parliament staff in an email this week of a new hotline for confidential complaints to report serious incidents in the workplace.

(With AP information)

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