Verdict today in rape trial

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 4

Verdict today in rape trial

Defence and Crown final addresses were given yesterday and Mr Justice Hardie Boys will sum up today in the High Court trial of two men who have denied two charges of raping a pregnant woman, aged 20. David Baxter McCreath, aged 26, and Stephen Bruce McClintock, aged 20, both unemployed, have denied the charges. The trial began on Monday. Mr B. M. Stanaway appears for the Crown, Mr S. C. Barker for McCreath, and Mr G. M. Brodie and Mrs A. Buchanan for McClintock. The defence called no evidence.

Mr Brodie, in his final address to the jury, said the complainant’s clothing was not damaged, and there were no injuries

consistent with a prolonged struggle.

No chairs were overturned, or ornaments broken, or any other sign of a struggle which the complainant said took place.

Mr Brodie said the evidence of Crown witnesses on times of events was completely unsatisfactory, and was conflicting. The complainant’s testimony that one man held her legs while the other pinned her arms, held her in a headlock, and kept his hand over her mouth was incredible. A doctor called by the Crown had given evidence which supported the defence rather than the prosecution.

Mr Brodie said it took 30 minutes to talk the women into complaining

to the police and even then she telephoned somebody else first.

Both accused were consistent in their accounts of what happened, in spite of being questioned for three hours or more. In contrast, the complainant’s testimony was riddled with inconsistencies. The accused had been open and co-operative with the police, Mr Brodie said.

Mr Barker submitted in his address that the woman’s testimony had been full of inconsistencies. She had claimed that she struggled continuously from the time she was first seized and was unable to scream because of a hand held over her mouth throughout. That was too far-

fetched to be believed, and obviously was not true. It was physically impossible for one man-to have held her thighs and the other to have had sex with her. ■'

Mr Barker said evidence was that the : bed was hardly disturbed at all, in spite of allegations of a violent struggle having taken place. The premises were tidy. There was not a thread out of place on the women’s nightwear.

Mr Barker emphasised that the Crown had to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, and that if jurors were left in any doubt they must acquit. He submitted that on the evidence produced in , the case, the jury must. acquit. ' I ;