Written by
Josh Taaffe
Criminal Defence Lawyer
The Name of the Offence
Rape, Indecent Assaults
Place of the event
Fawkner
The court attended
Melbourne County Court
Facts of the Case
The accused met the complainant at his friend's birthday party and they were intimate with each other on that night. The accused, his friend, the complainant and another girl known to them all arranged a week later to hire a hotel room together.
At the hotel the four formed into two couples and had sex. The accused ceased having sex with the complainant when he noticed that she was crying. He asked her what was wrong and she told him that she still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend. The complainant later complained that she had been raped.
The accused faced two trials, the first ended without verdict because of a legal issue. At the second trial the complainant admitted that she had been actively kissing the accused during the penetration she alleged occurred without her consent. There were a number of matters that she admitted at the first trial that she would not agree to at the second trial until confronted with the transcript. These inconsistencies reflected poorly on her reliability.
Results Achieved
The accused was found not guilty of all of the most serious allegations and was fined for touching the complainant's breasts, during kissing, when she might not have been consenting.
