Margaret Cunneen

Margaret Cunneen
SC
Born Margaret Mary Cunneen
(1959-01-15) 15 January 1959
Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
Alma mater
Occupation
Employer New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
Religion Catholic[1]
Children 3 (sons)

Margaret Mary Cunneen SC (born 15 January 1959 in Sydney) is an Australian barrister, prosecutor and commissioner of a government inquiry.

Background and early career

Cunneen was born at St. Margaret's Hospital in Darlinghurst, the daughter of John and Catherine Cunneen. Her father was a civil engineer who became chief of the NSW Water Resources Commission.[1] Cunneen grew up in the south western suburbs of Sydney, was educated at Santa Sabina College, Strathfield.

She joined the Attorney General's Department in 1977, working in the Ministerial office. She was an Industrial Officer at the Public Service Board of NSW from 1981 to 1986, when she transferred to what is now the New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions where her immediate manager was Megan Latham.[1][2] After commencing study part-time, she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the NSW Institute of Technology in 1982[3] and a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney in 1989.[2] In 1982, she was admitted a legal practitioner of the New South Wales Supreme Court.[2] In 2014 she was awarded the Law Alumni Award by the University of Technology.[4]

Crown Prosecutor

Cunneen is a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and has held a commission as a Crown Prosecutor since 1990. She came to prominence when she prosecuted a series of highly publicised pedophiles and several notable gang rape and murder trials.

In October 2007 Cunneen was appointed as Senior Counsel and her peers at the Bar elected her as one of 21 members of the Bar Council of New South Wales.[5][6] She is a Bar Councillor, having received the second highest number of votes in the 2014 Bar Council elections.[7]

Between 1995 and 2009 Cunneen was a lecturer in child abuse and neglect, focusing on the court system, at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of New South Wales.[2]

In April 2007 The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Cunneen had been removed as prosecutor in the trial of an alleged gang rapist after the court found there would be a perception of unfairness if she acted in the case.[8] Cunneen had referred to the case, although without naming it and speaking only in reference to the deleterious effects on the victim arising from the seven–year delay in concluding it, during the Sir Ninian Stephen Lecture in 2005 at Newcastle University. Cunneen's lecture was described by Justice David Levine as "the most articulate commentary on the criminal justice system, in my opinion". The decision to remove her was criticised by the New South Wales Bar Association,[9] however it was not appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.[10] John Marsden wrote to the Legal Services Commissioner, calling Cunneen "a disgrace to our profession".[1] His complaint was dismissed.

In 2010, Cunneen as a private citizen, gave character evidence for Brett Stewart, referring to his having campaigned in New Guinea against violence towards women, in Sydney's District Court in his trial after an allegation of sexual assault. Stewart was found not guilty by the jury in under an hour's deliberation.

ICAC investigation

Following a serious car accident involving the girlfriend of one of her sons, it was alleged by an anonymous complainant that Cunneen, her son (Steven Wyllie), and his injured girlfriend (Sophia Tilley) attempted to influence the outcome of police inquiries into the accident by attempting to pervert the course of justice.[11] Cunneen rejected the claims against her.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) announced on 29 October 2014 that it would begin investigations into her alleged actions.[12] Independent witnesses at the scene vouched that Tilley was being treated in the ambulance before the police, and later Cunneen, arrived. Tilley was blood-tested at hospital and recorded 0.00.[13] Cunneen successfully appealed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal, and ICAC was granted leave for the matter to be heard before the High Court of Australia.

On 15 April 2015, in a 4:1 majority ruling, the High Court found that ICAC had exceeded its authority based on a misinterpretation of "corrupt conduct" in the ICAC Act. The Court ruled that Cunneen's alleged conduct, had it occurred, might have affected the official's choice of action, but would not have affected the official's probity in making that choice. The High Court also held that the alleged conduct could not have amounted to corruption.[14] The Court accepted that the conduct of Cunneen, had it occurred, would have been in a private and not an official capacity, and also found that the alleged conduct could not have amounted to corruption.[15][16] ICAC was ordered to pay costs.[13]

On 27 May 2015, ICAC referred the allegations against Cunneen, Wyllie and Tilley to the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions. The DPP referred the matter to the Attorney General, who referred it to the Solicitor General. The Solicitor General, after obtaining advice from senior counsel in another state, in view of Cunneen's prominence in the NSW legal profession, determined that a prosecution was not warranted.[17][18] Following this decision, Cunneen criticised ICAC's powers as "extraordinarily draconian".[19]

Notable cases

Notable cases successfully prosecuted by Cunneen include:

In 2004 it was reported that Cunneen's advice to Nicholas Cowdery, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, concerning sexual abuse allegations against an Australian swimming coach, Scott Volkers, was leaked. It was reported that Cunneen's advice stated that "the inevitable conclusion from the brief as a whole is that Scott Volkers was a thoroughly disreputable man, given to inappropriate touching and comments towards young swimmers in his charge." But it warned that the situation was "complicated by the fondness of many for him." Her final assessment of the matter was that "prosecution of these old matters being so relatively minor would erode public confidence in the course of the criminal justice system."[26][27][28] In July 2014 Cunneen made a statement to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.[2]

Commissioner

On 9 November 2012 Cunneen was appointed Commissioner of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into matters relating to the police investigation of certain child sexual abuse allegations in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. Commissioner Cunneen reported to the NSW Governor Marie Bashir on 30 May 2014.[29]

Personal life

Cunneen lives in Sydney's North Shore. She has three sons, born in 1988, 1990 and 1992.[1][30][31]

The fictional character Janet King, in the ABC TV drama series of the same name, is believed to be loosely based on Cunneen.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bearup, Greg; Box, Dan (28 February 2015). "Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen is fighting to save her career". The Australian. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Cunneen SC, Margaret (3 July 2014). "Statement of Margaret Cunneen SC" (PDF). Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Margaret Cunneen SC". UTS Alumni: Alumni Profiles. University of Technology, Sydney. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "UTS Alumni Award for Excellence 2014 - Faculty of Law".
  5. ↑ Jacobsen, Geesche (5 October 2007). "Silk at last as prosecutor convinces toughest jury". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
  6. ↑ "Appointment as Senior Counsel". The Law Report, Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 11 April 2007.
  7. ↑ "a resounding vote of confidence from the NSW Bar.".
  8. ↑ Jacobsen, Geesche (21 April 2007). "Accused rapist cleared after prosecutor barred". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 3. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
  9. ↑ Ackland, Richard (30 September 2005). "Cunneen struck nerve on process versus truth". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Jacobsen, Geesche (24 April 2007). "Colleagues defend barred prosecutor". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  11. ↑ Whitbourn, Michaela (18 November 2014). "Margaret Cunneen corruption inquiry would be a 'show trial', court hears". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  12. ↑ Whitbourn, Michaela (18 April 2015). "ICAC under attack following High Court decision on Margaret Cunneen case". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  13. 1 2 Byrne, Elizabeth (15 April 2015). "Margaret Cunneen inquiry: ICAC loses High Court bid to investigate prosecutor". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Independent Commission Against Corruption v Cunneen [2015] HCA 14". AustLII. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  15. ↑ Whitbourne, Michaela (16 April 2015). "High Court rejects ICAC's bid to investigate Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  16. ↑ Whitbourne, Michaela (16 April 2015). "Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen clips ICAC's wings". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  17. ↑ NSW Solicitor General (24 July 2015). "Statement from NSW Solicitor General regarding a referral from the Independent Commission Against Corruption". Sydney: NSW Department of Justice. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  18. ↑ Whitbourn, Michaela; Nicholls, Sean (25 July 2015). "Margaret Cunneen will not be prosecuted over ICAC evidence, Solicitor-General advises". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  19. ↑ Nicholls, Sean (26 July 2015). "Margaret Cunneen blasts ICAC's 'extraordinarily draconian' powers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Sutton, Candace (18 August 2002). "The woman who fought back for the victims". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
  21. ↑ Cunneen, Margaret (24 September 2005). Living Within the Law (Speech). University of Newcastle: The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Fingleton v R (2005) HCA 34". High Court of Australia. 23 June 2005. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  23. ↑ Devine, Miranda (4 June 2006). "Murderer's sentence a shot in the foot for good policing". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Merritt, Chris (4 October 2006). "No justice as top lawyer misses silk again". The Australian. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  25. ↑ Gibbs, Stephen (2 August 2003). "Rapist out of sight but not out of mind". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 April 2007.
  26. ↑ Gilbert, Julie; Scattini, Damian; O'Byrne, Kylie; Boyce, Simone (5 July 2004). A Case To Answer (transcript). Investigative report with Quentin McDermott. Four Corners. ABC TV. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  27. ↑ Harvey, Adam (9 July 2014). "Julie Gilbert, allegedly abused by swimming coach Scott Volkers, reveals 'insult' over comments by prosecutor Margaret Cunneen" (transcript). Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  28. ↑ Feneley, Rick; Bibby, Paul (10 July 2014). "Scott Volkers: Swimming coach accused of child abuse 'too good to sack'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  29. ↑ Ansari, Tahmina (30 May 2014). "Special Commission of Inquiry clears police, finds whistleblower Peter Fox 'not credible' over child abuse cover-up claims". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  30. ↑ Barrowclough, Nikki (24 April 2004). "Profile interview: Margaret Cunneen". Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald.
  31. ↑ Cunneen, Margaret (24 April 2004). "Letter to the editor". The Daily Telegraph (Australia).
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