It gets worse when you read his Wikipedia entry.........
In 2000 Clark was charged with the 1981rapeof his cousin, Joanne McGuinness, but a magistrate found there was insufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.[3]
In 2001, press reports inThe Ageclaimed that Clark was responsible for four rapes that took place in the 1970s and 1980s.[1]McGuiness and Carol Stingel launched separate civil cases against Clark in 2002.[4]
In 2003 it emerged that ATSIC had agreed to allocate $45,000 to fund Clark's legal defence relating to a pub brawl where he was present.[1]Nineteen charges were initially filed, with all but 'riotous behaviour' and 'obstructing police' eventually dropped. Clark was convicted on both in his first trial, with the riotous behaviour charge later dismissed on appeal.[5][6]
In January 2007 aCounty Court of Victoriacivil jury found that he had led twopack rapesin 1971.[1]The victim, Carol Anne Stingel, suffered frompost traumatic stress syndrome, was awarded $20,000 incompensatory damagesand around $71,000 to cover legal costs.[7]
In February 2007 Clark appealed the findings of the jury in the Stingel matter. His notice of appeal alleged the verdict to be 'perverse', that the trial judge misdirected the jury regarding failures to call corroborative witnesses on the part of the complainant, that the trial judge erred in ruling against the admission of certain evidence, and that the fairness of the trial process had been compromised by pre-trial publicity.[8]In December 2007 he lost his appeal against the damages awarded against him.[9]Clark never paid the $20,000 compensation to Stingel and as of 2013 owed more than $300,000 to her lawyers.[10]Although Clark declaredbankruptcyin 2009, which was extended by five years in June 2012, he made an unsuccessful $1.25 million bid in June 2013 for a hotel in Warrnambool.[10]
In September 2011, Clark was one of the successful complainants in a racial discrimination case involvingHerald SuncolumnistAndrew Bolt, who in a 2009 article claimed that Clark had used his "part Aboriginal ethnicity" to gain social benefits. Clark said he took part in the action because of the general tone of Bolt's writing.[11]InEatock v Bolt, theFederal Court of Australiaheld that two articles written by Bolt and published inThe Herald Sunhad contravenedsection 18Cof theRacial Discrimination Act 1975.[12]
In August 2021 Clark was ordered to stand trial relating to the alleged misappropriation of about $2 million belonging to the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust over a period of around 30 years, along with his wife Trudy and son Jeremy.[13]
