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The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling SC, apologised to one of Lam’s alleged victims on 7 March in an email marked “sensitive”.
In a statement, released to the Herald on Wednesday, Dowling’s office said it was “regrettable” that a prosecutor had used the term “willing participants” to refer to complainants.
“The use of the phrase was regrettable and was not intended to detract from the seriousness of the accused’s alleged conduct,” the statement read.
Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling SC.Credit: Nick Moir
Speaking generally, Dowling assured Lam’s accuser that no child is a willing participant in their own abuse and steps would be taken to ensure the mistake was not repeated by her prosecutors.
Lam’s accusers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Herald they were deeply upset that their case had resulted in “Lam’s law”, which had already seen a convicted female paedophile released on bail.
Gaye Grant, 77, was serving almost seven years in prison for “an unlawful sexual relationship with a child” between 1977 and 1979 in Wollongong, court documents state.
The former teacher pleaded guilty in 2022 but her legal team, citing “Lam’s law”, said her conviction was a “miscarriage of justice” because she was a woman.
The Court of Criminal Appeal released Grant on bail earlier this month until her full appeal can be heard.
“In the light of Lam, the applicant’s appeal would be most likely to succeed,” the court’s judgment concluded.
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“It is clear from the sentencing judge’s judgment that, apart from the offending which led to her conviction, the applicant has been an upstanding citizen, generous with her time including fundraising for community committee activities.”
People can only be charged under the laws that were in place at the time of the alleged crime, the DPP noted in their statement.
Any change to the laws used to prosecute women accused of historic abuse before 1984 would political intervention.
“It would be a matter for the legislature to consider introducing retroactive legislation to now criminalise the conduct that the ODPP sought to prosecute in this case,” the DPP statement said.