confidence and clarity in the account are not helpful in determining whether the account is accurate;
- (9) despite the belief that the emergence of inconsistencies across interviews is a sign of lying (people "can't keep their story straight"), the literature on memory, impacts of trauma and the dynamic between interviewee and the interviewer must be considered; and
- (10) multiple interviews are typically necessary to construct a clear narrative of events; however, the consequence of these multiple interviews may be patterns of inconsistency or omissions especially early in the interview process (which need to be carefully evaluated but are not in and of themselves necessarily indicative of deception or accuracy).
118 Consistently with the agreement of the parties, to the extent these propositions are relevant, I will bear them in mind in assessing the impact of any counterintuitive behaviour pointed to by Mr Lehrmann, after the alleged assault, on Ms Higgins' credit.
119 In a similarly helpful and constructive way, the parties also agreed facts as to the impact of acute alcohol intoxication, in that it has:
- (1) a significant and negative effect on memory as it can impair the memory for behaviour and motivation of all parties involved in a sexual act, including a sexually aggressive act; and
- (2) been shown to impair judgment; impact negatively on executive function; and impair attention to environmental cues; it can lead to fragmentary memories that slowly recover and consolidate and from a forensic perspective, this process of fragmentation of memory with at times slow recovery may lead to apparent inconsistency and omissions between interviews.
120 Although not an agreed fact, there is a further matter worth mentioning about alcohol consumption that is uncontroversial. As was pointed out by Professor Julia Quilter, Professor Luke McNamara and Ms Melissa Porter in their article 'The Nature and Purpose of Complainant Intoxication Evidence in Rape Trials: A Study of Australian Appellate Court Decisions' (2022) 43(2) Adelaide Law Review 606, alcohol consumption is "strongly associated with sexual violence crimes, including rape" (at 607). A review of cases, however, suggests that complainant intoxication evidence has historically been more likely to impede,
