Hey Dad! Robert Hughes Waived Rights to Committal Hearing over Indecent Assault
Hey Dad! Robert Hughes was charged of eleven counts of indecent assault on five girls in Sydney between 1984 and 1990. He was arrested in August 2012 and his trial started in December that year.
In a hearing on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, Mr Hughes, with his lawyer Greg Walsh, waived his rights for committal hearing, ABC News reports.
Talking with the press outside court after the hearing, Mr Walsh explained their move for waiving Mr Hughes rights to committal hearing.
"That is being done so we can expedite the matter. He wants to try to bring this to a head as quickly as possible."
While the camp for Mr Hughes was already granted access to media interviews from Channel Seven, Channel Nine and the pacific Magazine Group, they were still waiting for permission to access documents from the publisher of Woman's Today, Bauer Media.
Mr Walsh said that all documents being accessed were crucial for the defence of Mr Hughes.
"Well, I think it's a matter of common sense. Any person who is making a complaint, if they are paid to give an account, it may well have relevance to their credibility and reliability. I would have thought that's a matter of common sense, but that is for the courts to determine."
Mr Walsh also expressed his hopes for his client to go to trial before the end of the year.
Mr Hughes was obviously stressed and tired of this all.
Through a brief hearing in December 2012, Mr Hughes was allowed to pay the bail including $50,000 surety and the strict conditions which required him to report to the police three times a week, have his passport forfeited and not be near any international departure point.
In a December 2012 article from The Age, Mr Hughes followed a court summon by the Attorney-Gengeral, Nicola Roxon, for him to return to Sydney and answer to allegations that he assaulted five children between 1985 and 1990 while he was still in the popular family television sitcom.
Detective Superintenden John Kerlatec said that the police was still not ruling out the possibility that there were more than the 11 reported victims of Mr Hughes. Those victims who had filed cases against Mr Hughes in court include a daughter of Mr Hughes family friends and a friend of Mr hughes own daughter as accounted by a London court in 2012.
During this time, Mr Hughes was still positive that charges will be dismissed and he can then go back to his wife Robyn Gardiner.
In an interview with The Age, Mr Walsh said that Mr Hughes was "functioning well, he's very tired... he's very stressed. The main anxiety he's got is his freedom, and in particular, being reunited with his wife. They have a very close and loving relationship, that's very obvious to me, I saw Robyn yesterday and she's very anxious."