NSW Falsely Accused of Crime I Didn't Commit?

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Seh

Member
30 November 2014
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I have been accused incorrectly of a crime against a friend by her sister. The source of the accusation was her ex husband. What legal processes can I take to vindicate myself under criminal law?
 
S

Sophea

Guest
Hi Seh,

Have you been charged with this offence by the police? Have the police been involved yet? Until that happens threats and accusations obviously have no legal consequences. Before a police officer can charge you with anything they need to have cogent evidence that you did in fact perpetrate the crime. Unless the odds are really stacked against your favour or someone is going to lengths to frame you for a crime, a discerning police officer or investigator will be able to see through baseless or malicious accusations.

In the meantime, if the accusations are being made maliciously or known to be false by the accuser, and they are causing your reputation to be tarnished you may have grounds to bring a civil action for defamation. To succeed in bringing an action in defamation you need to show that information was communicated by the person defaming you to persons other than yourself, the information identified you and related to you and the information was of a nature that could injure your reputation exposing you to hatred, contempt or ridicule, cause others to shun or avoid you or lower your estimation by other people.