The Court of Appeal has upheld the rape conviction of an anonymised man, M.Q., after rejecting challenges to text-message evidence and the jury’s verdict.
M.Q. was tried in July 2018 on two rape counts arising from alleged incidents in a campervan in the early hours of August 2, 2015. The complainant had travelled with him for work over the weekend. She alleged that he raped her after she refused sexual intercourse and later raped her again after she woke to find him touching her.
The jury convicted M.Q. on the second count. It could not agree on the first, on which a nolle prosequi was subsequently entered, ending that prosecution.
On appeal, M.Q. challenged text messages exchanged among himself, the complainant and a witness identified as AB. The Court of Appeal held that messages from July 31 and August 1 were admissible background evidence. They were closely connected in time to the alleged offences and helped the jury understand the relationship and interactions between the parties.
The court separately upheld the admission of messages sent by the complainant to AB on August 2 describing what she said had happened. Although AB asked questions, the appeal court held that the complaint developed voluntarily and was not improperly induced.
M.Q. also argued that the guilty verdict was perverse because the jury had disagreed on the first rape count. The court rejected that submission. It noted that juries may reach different conclusions on separate counts and that M.Q.’s own evidence included an account that sexual intercourse occurred as the complainant was waking.
Finally, the court rejected criticism of the trial judge’s charge. It held that the jury had been properly directed on the prosecution’s burden to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt and that the evidence had been presented fairly and in a balanced manner.
All grounds of appeal were dismissed and the conviction stood.