Cynthia Frahn loses appeal against teen sex abuse conviction
A mother has learnt the fate of her bid to quash her conviction after she was found guilty of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy.
A married woman who forced herself onto a drunk teenager has failed in her bid to quash her sexual abuse conviction.
Cynthia Frahn, 53, was found guilty of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy at a house party in June 2023 at her home in Monarto, South Australia.
A jury convicted Frahn after hearing evidence that after the boy had passed out in his swag, he woke to find the defendant performing oral sex on him.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.She was sentenced to four years in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
However, after the trial, Frahn launched a bid to quash both her conviction and her sentence.
She argued that the way DNA evidence had been presented to the jury had caused a miscarriage of justice, alleging the judge had committed “the prosecutor’s fallacy”.
In its simplest terms, this is a mistake in logic when the probability of a piece of evidence existing is confused with the probability of the defendant’s guilt.
Frahn’s lawyers also argued that there were flaws in DNA evidence submitted to the court that made up part of the circumstantial case against her.
However, while a panel of appeal judges did grant her permission to appeal on some grounds, it ultimately denied the appeal and upheld her conviction.
The panel dismissed the claims of “prosecutor’s fallacy” but granted a permission of appeal related to quarrels over the DNA evidence.
The evidence related to collective samples from both the defendant and her victim from the boy’s swag.
Frahn’s solicitors argued that this could be “equally capable of being explained by innocent transference in undisputed circumstances”.
In a judgment issued on Thursday, the judges argued that while the significance of the DNA evidence could be refuted, it was far from the only incriminating evidence presented at the trial.
The judges then dismissed Frahn’s appeals, upholding both her conviction and her sentence.
“It was consistent with the verdict for the judge to find that the complainant was not willing and did not acquiesce in the applicant’s acts,” the judgment reads.
Originally published as Cynthia Frahn loses appeal against teen sex abuse conviction
