Vulnerable Client Accused of Rape Avoids Prison

Case study summary

Our vulnerable client was accused of rape. He denied this but he could not remember the evening and there was evidence to suggest that some sexual activity did occur which caused difficulties for his case. We obtained the best possible outcome by avoiding a prison sentence.

Case study

Our client was a 26-year-old with multiple health and learning difficulties which meant that he was a vulnerable individual. He was accused of rape by a friend who had provided him with alcohol and drugs during the course of the evening. The complainant had also consumed a large amount of alcohol and drugs so it was a difficult case where neither party had any memory of the evening due to their level of intoxication. However, our client was adamant that he would not have raped his friend.

The prosecution relied on a witness statement which stated that they had seen our client lay on top of the complainant and they were both under the covers. When the complainant woke up the following morning, she was naked. However, there was no evidence to support the fact that our client had inserted his penis into the complainant's vagina.

Our client denied raping the complainant. He said that, if sex had occurred with the complainant, it would have been consensual. This was supported in part by video footage which showed the complainant dancing provocatively on top of our client during the evening. Nevertheless, the difficulty for us remained in that an independent witness said that they saw our client laying on top of the complainant while she was naked and they were both in a heavily intoxicated state.

The stress of going through a criminal trial was weighing heavily on our client to the point where he considered taking his own life to avoid it. He and his mother also knew that the impact which a lengthy prison sentence would have had on him if he was wrongly found guilty of rape would have been devastating.

We carefully reviewed the case to try to find the best outcome for our client. In these particular circumstances, this was to avoid a trial and prison. We carefully reviewed the evidence and negotiated with the prosecution. Due to the difficulties which both parties had, we were able to persuade the prosecution to resolve the matter with a guilty plea to a lesser offence of sexual assault, in that our client accepted he touched the complainant's breasts and vagina at a point when she was not able to consent due to her level of intoxication.

We then prepared for a sentence hearing. Our client had made progress to move away from his so-called friends and had not consumed alcohol or taken any drugs since the night of the allegation. We obtained character references from our client's friends, family members and work colleagues which confirmed this, explained how his vulnerability had resulted in him being open to exploitation at the time of the offending and that the offending was completely out of character for him. As a result of this, a non-custodial sentence was imposed which meant that our client could continue to be cared for by his mother and they would receive further support from the probation and mental health services.