News & Legal Advice
'Not Guilty' Rape Verdict in 20 minutes
Published - Nov 05, 2024
Foster and Coleman recently acted for a client who was tried and rightly acquitted of an offence of rape.
Our client was arrested at the end of 2021 for this offence and interviewed, during which he categorically denied the offence and provided a full and coherent account to the officers that any sexual activity with the complainant had been consensual. He was subsequently released on bail and the matter referred to the Crown Prosecution Service who ultimately authorised that he be charged with the offence.
Our client was originally represented by another firm, but later instructed Foster and Coleman once the matter had reached the crown court. From an initial consideration of the prosecution evidence, it was clear that there were real concerns regarding the truthfulness of the accounts from both the complainant and supporting witness, concerns which were further supported by the social media exchanges exhibited by the prosecution. Voice recordings and witness evidence were obtained as part of the defence case which cast further doubt on the prosecution’s case, but nonetheless the matter proceeded to trial.
After a trial lasting four days, and with the prosecution case being completely dismantled as a result of expert cross-examination, the jury retried to consider their verdict. They returned after a mere 20 minutes of consideration to acquit the defendant of this matter.
It was clear from the outset not only that the complainant was not being truthful about what had happened on the night concerned, but also the motives behind the false complaint. Despite this, our client of impeccable character has been forced to deal with this nightmare scenario and the threat to his liberty and reputation for the last three years. Thankfully, the jury saw this for what it was, and in fact a number of them sought our client outside court following his discharge to inform him that they knew he was innocent after the first day of the trial.
Our client was represented at trial by the outstanding Mrs Clea Topolski KC of Crucible Chambers
Posted in Criminal Defence on Nov 05, 2024