In a sexual offence case, jurors may have misconceptions that inappropriately affect their evaluation of a complainant’s evidence, for example, where the complainant has not complained at the first reasonable opportunity to do so. In Victoria, a judge may assist jurors to understand why a complainant may not have complained earlier by providing examples that are not drawn from the evidence. The Victorian Court of Appeal has recently questioned the legislative authority to do this. This article answers the Court’s question. It also considers the Court’s obligations to address this misconception, having regard to a complainant’s interests, to ensure a fair trial.

在性犯罪案件中，陪审员可能存在误解，从而不适当地影响他们对投诉人证据的评估，例如，投诉人没有在第一个合理的机会提出投诉。在维多利亚州，法官可以通过提供并非从证据中提取的例子来帮助陪审员理解为什么投诉人可能没有更早提出投诉。维多利亚州上诉法院最近质疑立法授权这样做。这篇文章回答了法院的问题。它还考虑到法院有义务在考虑到申诉人的利益的情况下纠正这种误解，以确保公平审判。