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Jurors clear man of raping ex-girlfriend

A man accused of forcefully taking his ex-girlfriend to his home and raping her was cleared of all charges in Supreme Court yesterday.

The five-woman, seven-man jury took just under two hours to deliver the unanimous verdict which found the 24-year-old St. David?s man not guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm, deprivation of liberty and sexual assault for an incident which transpired on May 26, 2004.

The man stood up and thanked the jury, saying ?that?s the kind of stuff I want to hear ? God bless you?.

He then proceeded to thank his lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, before leaving the court room.

During the trial, presided over by Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves, the court heard that the man was in a relationship with the complainant up until December 2003 and had remained in close contact with her up to the alleged assault.

The court heard that the woman continued sexual relations with the man after the incident from November 2004 -April 2005.

On the day in question the woman had been out at Harbour Nights when the man called her, heard the sound of two male voices in the background and accused her of ?double-dating?.

According to the woman?s testimony, the man showed up to her house close to 12 p.m. and became violent with her, allegedly hitting her on the head knocking off her helmet and proceeding to choke her and knock her on the nose causing it to bleed.

After the ?squabble? occurred inside her house, she alleges she was dragged to his car, where he yelled at her for being disrespectful.

While the woman claims she was taken to his home and raped, the man told the court he had cleaned up her bloody nose and they had talked for 30 to 45 minutes before having sex.

According to both testimonies the man had been ?gentle? with the woman from the time he stepped out of the car ? put his arms around her and kissed her forehead ? until they had sexual intercourse.

During sex the woman said she just lay there, silent with a ?dull? look on her face, but the man said her behaviour was ?normal? and told Police: ?There were some times when she would just sit there and lay like Thursday ? plenty of times.?

He continued: ?I slid off her pants she didn?t say anything, then I slid her underwear off slow, she didn?t stop me or anything.?

According to the man, the relationship between himself and the woman was tempestuous and he described to the court several other incidents where she had been violent towards him.

Those incidents would result in them having sexual relations soon after.

During her closing arguments, Ms Christopher told the court: ?All the physical evidence of this case has to support [my client.?