These past few months, it’s become even more clear than usual that powerful men with money – and often fame – are using the courts to hide their identities and/or to control their alleged victims.
The case of Tom Silvagni has highlighted how fame, money and powerful parentage can deliver a legal cloak of anonymity from judges who wouldn’t even consider signing a suppression order for an accused offender from a marginalised community or diverse background.
Indeed, these same judges won’t even sentence killers to adequate prison terms after they slaughter women, but they will indeed succumb to the vibrant rays of power and influence.
Silvagni’s suppression order was in place for 18 months, even though his identity was common knowledge across Victoria, his home state. His name was shared repeatedly across social media groups set up by women to protect other women from rapists and domestic violence abusers.
Silvagni’s lawyers pressed the court to impose the suppression order on two grounds – the impact identifying would have on his very famous parents – Stephen Salvigni and Jo Bailey. It was also imposed because Silvagni junior was feeling the mental impact of the charges.
To be fair – so was his victim. Indeed, she was suffering much more than he.
I guess if you don’t want to feel the mental burden or career impacts of going to court or to jail, don’t rape women. But here we are.
Still in Victoria, a famous man – whose name is slipping into the DMs of women across Melbourne – has also scored a suppression order.
And in a repeat of the Silvagni issue, it’s been deemed that exposure of the alleged rape charges might damage his business and upset his mental wellness.
This particular man comes with a shoddy reputation – he is known across the two industries he works in as a sleaze, a sexual predator and frankly a jerk. But how dare we mention his name or talk about his dangers to women?
To publish his name would mean jail or a huge fine. The second I cannot afford, but the first I’d almost risk. What holds me back, though, is the fact that I cannot document the killing of women and children from a prison cell.
Meanwhile, up in Queensland, a former mining industry executive is facing multiple rape and domestic violence charges.
He’s check notes suing his former partner for defamation because she dared to speak on social media about the impact of her trauma.
Fun fact. He’s also threatening to sue me because I published posts saying he was facing the charges. As part of this process, he has demanded that I sign a document gagging me from ever writing about him or from speaking to others about him.
He’s not the only guy in my inbox these days.
Just these past few months, I’ve been threatened by three other rich powerful men – one a major household name – for talking about their abuse of women.
Fun days in Chalet Moody!
Seriously, though, this is a clear attempt to control and silence a woman who says she endured significant sexual and physical violence.
The use of defamation laws to control victims has long been problematic. The civil cases keep women tied up in traumatising and extremely costly legal red tape. This can stymie their healing processes because speaking publicly is one of the most cathartic things a woman can do post-abuse.
It is also about control – when a woman leaves, she regains her voice. This is something abusers cannot stand and so they use whatever tools they can to shut her up.
We’ve spent centuries overcoming media reluctance to talk about domestic violence and rape, and now that we can get some of these vital stories to journalists or published on our social media accounts, the abusers are finding ways to drag us back to the dark ages.
I document the stories of killed women and children because I believe their stories can save lives. So too can the stories of the women and children who survive abuse.
By reading their stories, others can see the red flags and understand the intricacies of abuse. They literally save lives.
The last thing we need is abusers gaining the backing of judges to hide from their crimes and to silence their victims.
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