Sexual abuse laws ‘need urgent changes’

THERE were mounting demands yesterday for urgent changes to the law after the collapse of a case involving the alleged sexual abuse of a woman with an intellectual disability.

The judge presiding over the trial directed the jury to acquit the defendant after ruling the law did not provide an offence for the alleged circumstances of the case.

The 61-year-old accused had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the now 23-year-old woman on December 11, 2008.