Young Man Acquitted of Rape Allegations

Case study summary

Our client was accused of taking advantage of a vulnerable person and raping her on two occasions. Inquiries revealed that the complainant had accused many men of rape. He was acquitted after we argued to have what we believed to be further false allegations put to the jury.

Case study

A difficulty in this case was that the complaint was a vulnerable person who the prosecution alleged our client had taken advantage of. He was charged with two counts of rape and instructed that he did have sex with her on one occasion with her full consent, and on another occasion did not have sex at all.

We highlighted inconsistencies in the complainants account, and we discovered after making enquiries that she had made rape and sexual assault allegations against many other men. It was important to our defence that those previous allegations were put to the jury, and we successfully argued that the jury be advised of some of those previous allegations which were dropped by the police.

Our client was subjected to aggressive cross examination at trial, but we had prepared him for this, and he remained calm and consistent in his account. Ultimately, the jury acquitted him of both counts, and he was finally able to move on with his life after a lengthy investigation and prosecution.