Apparently so, according to the defence in a NSW rape trial. Because the teenage survivor “was not upset, exhausted or stressed after three days in the witness box” she had to be “enjoying the attention”.

I would like Solicitor Roland Day to enjoy my attention just for a moment…

The defence team in this case are obviously a stellar bunch of people, the barrister involved has already had a complaint to the Legal Services Commissioner lodged against her by the Director of Public Prosecution due to her “lengthy questioning” of the teenage girl.

Mr Day told Sydney radio that in his “respectful opinion, there was a level of enjoyment at the attention” by the teen.

His “respectful opinion”? What the hell is respectful in harassing a teenage sexual assault victim with vexacious claims that she is getting off on all the attention of being hammered with questions by opposing counsel for days on end? How dare he make an assumption like that. How dare he make this about the victim rather than about the accused?

With the trial being aborted, the young woman now has to go through the whole ordeal all over again later this year at the retrial. Why the hell haven’t all courts got video recording facilities? There is no excuse for putting victims through the trauma of having to describe their ordeal in court more than once. No excuse at all.

But gee, we should be thankful that there are new rules being introduced to the legal playground. Barristers will be banned from “humiliating and intimidating witnesses in court” if new rules are rushed through. It boggles the mind that such rules aren’t already in place. Humiliating and intimidation should have no place in the justice system, no place at all.

We all know that the court system is designed to favour the defendant. The mental and emotional well-being of victims of crime pales in significance next to the right of the accused for a fair trial. Because hey, she has already been raped once, let’s just do it again and again and again – after all, she is enjoying the attention.