The judge in a trial of a man accused with sexual assault has decided not to caution the jury of the dangers of convicting someone on the basis of uncorroborated evidence.
A 24 year old man is facing six counts of sexual assault which he is alleged to have committed on a teenager, while he himself was a teenager, on dates between 2011 and 2013.
Defence for the accused had asked the judge to make the caution based on some so-called unreliable evidence provided by the complainant.
The jury today heard from the sister of the accused who was a friend of the alleged victim.
She provided a statement contradictory to that by the complainant, with mismatching details relating to the room where one of the assaults were reported to have taken place.
The complainant, who was aged between 12 and 15 at the time, said one of the assaults happened in the double bed of her friend’s room, however today the court heard there was no double bed in that room at the time.
Counsel for the defence argued that certain details provided by the complainant, including the exact location of a separate assault, were unreliable and therefore the jury should be slow to convict on the basis of such evidence.
Judge Catherine Staines disagreed that the information provided was not inherently unreliable nor was there any appearance of a holding of a grudge and therefore decided against cautioning the jury.
Counsel for both parties are currently giving their closing speeches and a verdict is expected this evening.
