A prosecutor’s decision not to charge a man with the rape of a woman with learning difficulties was not irrational. The circumstances of the man’s acquittal some years earlier on charges of sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder impeding choice were such that the prosecutor had been right to conclude that the man would be able to establish that a second prosecution was an abuse of process.
ABUSE OF PROCESS ACQUITTALS CRIMINAL PROCEDURE DECISIONS TO PROSECUTE RAPE
An acquittal on counts of rape and assault by penetration would be quashed and a retrial ordered where the complainant had left the country after giving an achieving best evidence interview and the Crown had offered no evidence at trial. There was new and compelling evidence in the form of the complainant’s evidence which was available when she returned to the country, and a retrial would be in the interests of justice.
ACQUITTAL FOLLOWING FOREIGN RAPE COMPLAINANT’S UNAVAILABILITY FOR TRIAL AND INADMISSIBILITY OF ACHIEVING BEST EVIDENCE INTERVIEW ACQUITTALS ASSAULT BY PENETRATION CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 s.76 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE NEW AND COMPELLING EVIDENCE Pt 10 QUASHING ORDERS RAPE RETRIALS RETURN OF COMPLAINANT TO UK s.101(1)(d) s.101(1)(g) s.62 s.62(8) s.75 s.76(1) s.77 s.77(1) s.78 s.78(1) s.78(2) s.78(3) s.78(5) s.79 s.82 s.84
The judge had been wrong to direct the acquittal of two of the four defendants in a case involving an allegation of the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl; evidence of collusion between the complainant and a witness might be used to cast doubt on their reliability and truthfulness but it should not have been used as a reason for stopping the case.
ACQUITTALS COLLUSION CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE IDENTIFICATION RELIABILITY SEXUAL OFFENCES TERMINATING RULINGS WHETHER JUDGE CORRECT TO DIRECT ACQUITTAL OF TWO OF FOUR DEFENDANTS
In a trial in respect of a number of sexual offences, an application to cross-examine the complainant about what she had said in the past concerning her previous relationships with men was rightly rejected as being contrary to the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 s.41 . There was nothing inconsistent with guilty verdicts where sexual acts had been admitted, and acquittals where the sexual act itself had been denied and the issue had been consent.
ACQUITTALS CRIMINAL EVIDENCE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CROSS-EXAMINATION EXAMINATION OF PREVIOUS SEXUAL HISTORY INCONSISTENT VERDICTS INDECENT ASSAULT ISSUE OF CONSENT RAPE S.41 YOUTH JUSTICE AND CRIMINAL EVIDENCE ACT 1999 SEXUAL ACTS ADMITTED SEXUAL OFFENCES STATEMENTS OF SEXUAL HISTORY
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