Following a 5 day trial in Lewes Crown Court sitting at Chichester, the Defendant was acquitted of two serious sexual offences by a jury. The complainant and her boyfriend had invited the Defendant, who was unknown to them previously and who had just delivered them a takeaway, into their flat to join them for a drink in the middle of the second Covid lockdown in February 2021. The Defendant returned two days later and was again invited in to join them. On this occasion, having invited the Defendant to stay on the sofa, the complainant alleged that she woke up in her bed to find the Defendant sexually assaulting her. The Defendant, who made no comment in interview, by contrast claimed at trial that, on the first evening he had been invited in, after the three of them had consumed a great deal of alcohol, they had thereupon engaged in a consensual ‘threesome’. When he returned two days later, after the boyfriend went to bed, the Defendant’s case was that he and the complainant again engaged in consensual sexual intercourse. The case involved a challenging application to adduce evidence of the ‘threesome’ as previous sexual behaviour under section 41 of YJCEA 1999. The application was ultimately unopposed and granted by the court.
Rupert was instructed by Geoff White Solicitors.
