Help Katie clear her name and get her life back.
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KATIE'S HOPE
‘Bad things happen when good people stand by and do nothing’
I attest that I am innocent of the charge brought against me, but months of jail and PTSD and financial ruin left me so vulnerable and confused that it became easy for individuals with no care to push me into a guilty plea for their own convenience.
If I was guilty of anything, I am guilty of caring too much for people who didn’t care back and took advantage of me.
We all know the justice system is flawed but to what extent is not clear until you yourself experience all the challenges, confusions and complications it presents in seeking justice for oneself. It has been my experience that the government-funded Legal Aid is only interested in processing the guilty and not in defending the innocent.
My hope in all of this once my name is cleared is to agitate for change in the justice system. I would demand that the law be changed so that it becomes incumbent upon the Barrister to seek assurance that their client is mentally fit to plead.
In this appeal process I am seeking to hold the system accountable not for myself but for all that come after me. I would pray this would never happen to another being.
picture- offering candles
Your contribution therefore goes not only to clearing me but holding the system/people involved accountable.
We all see the system favouring the wealthy and that prisons are full of the poor and mentally ill who do not have the means to seek justice.
I hope to change this with your help and your generous donations and send a message of hope that the system can be challenged by anyone regardless of financial status.
ABC Reporter Fiona McLeod, 03 Aug 2017
“All Australians have the right under the law to seek justice. Yet this right means little when you cannot exercise it because you can't get the help you need. That's the problem now facing countless Australians, and it's getting worse. Tens of thousands of those who need help most are slipping through the cracks of our justice system every year……Twenty years of steady cuts to the legal-assistance sector mean that free advice is harder and harder to access.”
The Globe and Mail, Reporter Kirk Makin, Updated April 29, 2018
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada said that the middle class cannot hope to pay legal fees that average $338 per hour, leaving them little option but to represent themselves in court or go away empty-handed.
"Do we have adequate access to justice?" she asked a University of Toronto conference on the problem. "It seems to me that the answer is no. We have wonderful justice for corporations and for the wealthy. But the middle class and the poor may not be able to access our justice system."
I send this message out with hope, love and compassion to all persons held in prisons and detention centres the world over who have committed no crime.
A word from my solicitor at
O’Sullivans Law Firm, Brisbane, Qld.
"Our firm has taken on Katie’s case. We believe her account of what has transpired. We believe she is a fundamentally decent person who has been wrongfully convicted with disastrous personal consequences. There have been systemic failures that need to be righted.
We are doing our best to assist but it is a complex, difficult and time-consuming process. We have sought advice from a leading Sydney barrister and will require his services as the system is beginning to resist scrutiny as we proceed.
This case against injustice should be fought, and it can be won, but the way the system works we need funding to continue."
Eugene O’Sullivan
Principal Solicitor
O'Sullivans Law Firm
120 Rose Street, Wooloowin, Qld 4030
I am a registered nurse with 30 years unblemished service in my chosen profession.
picture- graduation day
In 2016 I was charged with a crime of which I am innocent. This accelerated a downward spiral that began with my ex-husband’s arrest the previous year. Since being charged I have attempted suicide and continue to be unable to work. I have also lost my home, my career, my financial security and my mental and emotional wellbeing. There was also SIX months in prison on remand before I was released by a higher court.
In 2017, while in a very vulnerable state, I was pressured into pleading guilty to that unjust charge. Legal experts agree that I have been wrongfully convicted. My new lawyers and a Sydney barrister have launched an appeal, but it is a complex, painstaking process. I have now exhausted my remaining financial reserves and my case is in danger of stalling before any justice at all is squeezed out of the system.
What actually happened
My husband had a criminal history before we married. Our relationship was on the understanding that this was to be a clean start. Unfortunately, in a misguided attempt to lead a normal life, he did not fully comply with the reporting requirements that had been placed on him. When I discovered this, I persuaded him to do so immediately. Consequently he was arrested for non-compliance. We were married for 5 months.
With his arrest came seizure of all our computers, phones etcetera. Police found photographs that they used as a basis to charge me with indecent treatment of a child. Such behaviour is the very antithesis of my moral and ethical beliefs. Being charged with this therefore came as a great shock. Feeling unable to continue in the face this accusation, I used my medical knowledge to take a lethal dose of insulin. A chance phone call was all that saved me.
The Incident
The photographs were of an impromptu occasion in 2015. A friend had arrived with some laser lights for our upcoming wedding. In the process of trying them out, there was a party of sorts with some dancing and frivolity. I was persuaded to dress up in some fancy dress costumes. These costumes were not indecent. My then fiancée started taking lots of photographs, something he did routinely. He began directing me to pose for shots. I mostly complied, sometimes under duress, until I became irritated and went off to bed leaving them to it. He did not make me pose in a provocative way but.....
A twelve-year-old boy was present that evening, having asked his mothers permission. He lived two houses down the street and was a frequent visitor. He was like family to us. I allowed him to spend time at our house because he was in obvious need of company and parental-type input. There being only four of us present, he ended up in many of the photographs. I discovered, after being charged a year later, that he had added his own adolescent antics to the photographs without me knowing and behind my back. This was easy enough to do as the room was dark with pinpoints of laser moving around – except when the camera flash went off. This was a great joke against me that I was unaware of and has led to me being charged for their adolescent antics.
The Injustice
On discovering these photographs, the police selectively massaged the facts of the situation to fabricate a scenario and the charge against me. They also brought other charges against me later that were subsequently dropped due to a complete lack of substance.
I was NOT adequately supported by the state-funded legal team – or for that matter, believed. Then, when the matter came to trial, I was pressured by them into pleading guilty, despite having insisted on pleading not guilty for well over a year.
Legal experts that I have consulted since, agree that I have been wrongfully convicted and have begun the process of overturning the conviction.
In the mean time my name remains on a register of sexual offenders which I find mortifying as I am ethically opposed to all forms of abuse, especially that of children. I am also obliged to comply with restrictions and reporting requirements which are a one-size-fits-all package designed for serious serial offenders. Besides being onerous and humiliating, it also has a very direct effect on my ability to gain paid employment, and even as I found recently, to be accepted as a volunteer for charity work.
picture- climbing in the Himalayas with Mt Everest in the background
A list of damage this charge has wreaked on my life so far…in sequence
Charged with indecent treatment of a child
Serious suicide attempt on day of being charged
Harassment and damage to my property from neighbours
Dragged from my house by police after a false claim of assault by a neighbour which was later dropped
Imprisoned in a section for sexual offenders and child murderers – purportedly for my protection
House broken into and trashed and property stolen while I was in prison
Puppy (Jasper) left in house alone, almost put down by council before being rescued by a good friend
Bullied in prison by murderers
Suffered panic attacks, night terrors and anxiety in prison with little psychological support
Suffered from scabies – left untreated by nurses who assumed I was guilty and deserved to suffer
Lost jobs
Lost friends
Lost profession – restrictions imposed by the Office of the Health Ombudsman effectively prevent me from getting a job
Released from prison on Supreme Court bail with the help of a charity ‘Sisters Inside’
Faced further harassment and bullying from people I knew well
Faced homelessness
Diagnosed with PTSD and scabies treated properly
Various admissions to psychiatric hospital for my thoughts of self-harm
Pushed into a guilty plea
House sold at a loss, left with large debts and unable to work
Lost furniture and possessions to Vinnies or the tip as I was denied access to my house
Now fighting in the Appeal Court to have my guilty plea overturned
I still struggle with the effects of PTSD on a daily basis – sleeplessness, nightmares, fatigue, hypervigilance, anxiety and major depression
Confirmation of my good character
I am the same person I was before all this happened – only my confidence in our legal system has been profoundly shaken by my experience, and my wellbeing has taken a battering at all levels. Helping people is still a strong motivation in my life but I now have to be more wary about what I do.
Please see character references at this site https://katiewarren03.wixsite.com/mysite
‘Bad things happen when good people stand by and do nothing’
I attest that I am innocent of the charge brought against me, but months of jail and PTSD and financial ruin left me so vulnerable and confused that it became easy for individuals with no care to push me into a guilty plea for their own convenience.
If I was guilty of anything, I am guilty of caring too much for people who didn’t care back and took advantage of me.
We all know the justice system is flawed but to what extent is not clear until you yourself experience all the challenges, confusions and complications it presents in seeking justice for oneself. It has been my experience that the government-funded Legal Aid is only interested in processing the guilty and not in defending the innocent.
My hope in all of this once my name is cleared is to agitate for change in the justice system. I would demand that the law be changed so that it becomes incumbent upon the Barrister to seek assurance that their client is mentally fit to plead.
In this appeal process I am seeking to hold the system accountable not for myself but for all that come after me. I would pray this would never happen to another being.
picture- offering candles Your contribution therefore goes not only to clearing me but holding the system/people involved accountable.
We all see the system favouring the wealthy and that prisons are full of the poor and mentally ill who do not have the means to seek justice.
I hope to change this with your help and your generous donations and send a message of hope that the system can be challenged by anyone regardless of financial status.
ABC Reporter Fiona McLeod, 03 Aug 2017
“All Australians have the right under the law to seek justice. Yet this right means little when you cannot exercise it because you can't get the help you need. That's the problem now facing countless Australians, and it's getting worse. Tens of thousands of those who need help most are slipping through the cracks of our justice system every year……Twenty years of steady cuts to the legal-assistance sector mean that free advice is harder and harder to access.”
The Globe and Mail, Reporter Kirk Makin, Updated April 29, 2018
Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada said that the middle class cannot hope to pay legal fees that average $338 per hour, leaving them little option but to represent themselves in court or go away empty-handed.
"Do we have adequate access to justice?" she asked a University of Toronto conference on the problem. "It seems to me that the answer is no. We have wonderful justice for corporations and for the wealthy. But the middle class and the poor may not be able to access our justice system."
I send this message out with hope, love and compassion to all persons held in prisons and detention centres the world over who have committed no crime.
A word from my solicitor at
O’Sullivans Law Firm, Brisbane, Qld.
"Our firm has taken on Katie’s case. We believe her account of what has transpired. We believe she is a fundamentally decent person who has been wrongfully convicted with disastrous personal consequences. There have been systemic failures that need to be righted.
We are doing our best to assist but it is a complex, difficult and time-consuming process. We have sought advice from a leading Sydney barrister and will require his services as the system is beginning to resist scrutiny as we proceed.
This case against injustice should be fought, and it can be won, but the way the system works we need funding to continue."
Eugene O’Sullivan
Principal Solicitor
O'Sullivans Law Firm
120 Rose Street, Wooloowin, Qld 4030
I am a registered nurse with 30 years unblemished service in my chosen profession.
picture- graduation dayIn 2016 I was charged with a crime of which I am innocent. This accelerated a downward spiral that began with my ex-husband’s arrest the previous year. Since being charged I have attempted suicide and continue to be unable to work. I have also lost my home, my career, my financial security and my mental and emotional wellbeing. There was also SIX months in prison on remand before I was released by a higher court.
In 2017, while in a very vulnerable state, I was pressured into pleading guilty to that unjust charge. Legal experts agree that I have been wrongfully convicted. My new lawyers and a Sydney barrister have launched an appeal, but it is a complex, painstaking process. I have now exhausted my remaining financial reserves and my case is in danger of stalling before any justice at all is squeezed out of the system.
What actually happened
My husband had a criminal history before we married. Our relationship was on the understanding that this was to be a clean start. Unfortunately, in a misguided attempt to lead a normal life, he did not fully comply with the reporting requirements that had been placed on him. When I discovered this, I persuaded him to do so immediately. Consequently he was arrested for non-compliance. We were married for 5 months.
With his arrest came seizure of all our computers, phones etcetera. Police found photographs that they used as a basis to charge me with indecent treatment of a child. Such behaviour is the very antithesis of my moral and ethical beliefs. Being charged with this therefore came as a great shock. Feeling unable to continue in the face this accusation, I used my medical knowledge to take a lethal dose of insulin. A chance phone call was all that saved me.
The Incident
The photographs were of an impromptu occasion in 2015. A friend had arrived with some laser lights for our upcoming wedding. In the process of trying them out, there was a party of sorts with some dancing and frivolity. I was persuaded to dress up in some fancy dress costumes. These costumes were not indecent. My then fiancée started taking lots of photographs, something he did routinely. He began directing me to pose for shots. I mostly complied, sometimes under duress, until I became irritated and went off to bed leaving them to it. He did not make me pose in a provocative way but.....
A twelve-year-old boy was present that evening, having asked his mothers permission. He lived two houses down the street and was a frequent visitor. He was like family to us. I allowed him to spend time at our house because he was in obvious need of company and parental-type input. There being only four of us present, he ended up in many of the photographs. I discovered, after being charged a year later, that he had added his own adolescent antics to the photographs without me knowing and behind my back. This was easy enough to do as the room was dark with pinpoints of laser moving around – except when the camera flash went off. This was a great joke against me that I was unaware of and has led to me being charged for their adolescent antics.
The Injustice
On discovering these photographs, the police selectively massaged the facts of the situation to fabricate a scenario and the charge against me. They also brought other charges against me later that were subsequently dropped due to a complete lack of substance.
I was NOT adequately supported by the state-funded legal team – or for that matter, believed. Then, when the matter came to trial, I was pressured by them into pleading guilty, despite having insisted on pleading not guilty for well over a year.
Legal experts that I have consulted since, agree that I have been wrongfully convicted and have begun the process of overturning the conviction.
In the mean time my name remains on a register of sexual offenders which I find mortifying as I am ethically opposed to all forms of abuse, especially that of children. I am also obliged to comply with restrictions and reporting requirements which are a one-size-fits-all package designed for serious serial offenders. Besides being onerous and humiliating, it also has a very direct effect on my ability to gain paid employment, and even as I found recently, to be accepted as a volunteer for charity work.
picture- climbing in the Himalayas with Mt Everest in the backgroundA list of damage this charge has wreaked on my life so far…in sequence
Charged with indecent treatment of a child
Serious suicide attempt on day of being charged
Harassment and damage to my property from neighbours
Dragged from my house by police after a false claim of assault by a neighbour which was later dropped
Imprisoned in a section for sexual offenders and child murderers – purportedly for my protection
House broken into and trashed and property stolen while I was in prison
Puppy (Jasper) left in house alone, almost put down by council before being rescued by a good friend
Bullied in prison by murderers
Suffered panic attacks, night terrors and anxiety in prison with little psychological support
Suffered from scabies – left untreated by nurses who assumed I was guilty and deserved to suffer
Lost jobs
Lost friends
Lost profession – restrictions imposed by the Office of the Health Ombudsman effectively prevent me from getting a job
Released from prison on Supreme Court bail with the help of a charity ‘Sisters Inside’
Faced further harassment and bullying from people I knew well
Faced homelessness
Diagnosed with PTSD and scabies treated properly
Various admissions to psychiatric hospital for my thoughts of self-harm
Pushed into a guilty plea
House sold at a loss, left with large debts and unable to work
Lost furniture and possessions to Vinnies or the tip as I was denied access to my house
Now fighting in the Appeal Court to have my guilty plea overturned
I still struggle with the effects of PTSD on a daily basis – sleeplessness, nightmares, fatigue, hypervigilance, anxiety and major depression
Confirmation of my good character
I am the same person I was before all this happened – only my confidence in our legal system has been profoundly shaken by my experience, and my wellbeing has taken a battering at all levels. Helping people is still a strong motivation in my life but I now have to be more wary about what I do.
Please see character references at this site https://katiewarren03.wixsite.com/mysite
Organizer
Katie Warren
Organizer
Charlton, QLD