Prominent West Australian criminal barrister Judith Fordham has revealed a retired judge indecently assaulted her, while in a separate matter, another former member of the judiciary sexually harassed and stalked her.
Key points:
- A survey found 42 per cent of WA lawyers have been sexually harassed
- Judith Fordham says a judge indecently assaulted her in a taxi
- The Women Lawyers of WA group calls the level of harassment ‘disturbing’
Ms Fordham said the indecent assault happened in the back of a taxi after a social event.
“It was a matter of, ‘OK who’s going this way, shortage of taxis, alright, let’s share a taxi,’ and I was seated in the back with him,” she told ABC Radio Perth.
“Before I knew it his hand was up my dress and groping me as far as he could get.”
Ms Fordham said the second former judge pursued her over a period of time.
“It wasn’t a drunken thing. He wanted to meet me, he wanted to see me in various venues, he found out where I lived, he came to my home,” she said.
“He told me about his marriage problems and said that he would like to see me without my clothes and his wife didn’t understand him, it was pretty classic.
‘He made a point of paying me out in court’
The incidents happened a number of years ago, but until now Ms Fordham has only confided in a small number of friends about what happened.
She decided to tell her story in light of the High Court’s recent revelation an independent investigation it commissioned found six former associates were sexually harassed by f