Adelaide rape: Two males convicted of raping 15-year-old woman freed as they await attraction, claiming jury acquired it incorrect

Two males discovered responsible of raping a 15-year-old woman at an 18th party have been launched on bail after the pair appealed towards their convictions.

A jury discovered Patrick Morie Bannah, 28, and Jonathan Zahinda, 26, responsible of raping an  intoxicated teen in Adelaide District Court docket final November.

Bannah, an award-winning afrobeat artist and producer from Adelaide’s north, was additionally discovered responsible of tried rape whereas Zahinda was later discovered responsible of dissuading a witness.

The pair had been jailed for six years in February after the court docket heard they raped the woman at a celebration held at an Adelaide Airbnb house in October 2020.

Their counsels have raised issues over the jury’s verdicts with the Court docket of Enchantment, claiming there was not sufficient proof to convict.

The court docket granted Bannah, who was already on bail, easy bail circumstances to not contact the sufferer on Tuesday.

Zahinda, from Bordertown was granted bail on comparable circumstances and launched from Mount Gambier jail, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.

Their attraction stems from the sufferer figuring out Bannah 10 months after the incident, which his lawyer John Wilson argued ought to have been dismissed from proof.

Mr Wilson instructed the Court docket of Enchantment that the sufferer had seen pictures of his consumer on Instagram which triggered her to expertise a ‘displacement impact’ and determine him as her rapist in a police line-up.

‘The identification process had been so compromised by that potential displacement impact it couldn’t meaningfully help the jury,’ he mentioned, the Advertiser experiences.   

Prosecution lawyer Ahura Kalali instructed the court docket through the trial that the woman drank alcohol for the primary time and used hashish earlier than heading right into a bed room.

Bannah adopted the 15-year-old into the room and touched her vagina whereas she requested him to ‘cease’, earlier than making an attempt to push him away.

He then assaulted the sufferer once more earlier than leaving the room.

Zahinda got here into the room later within the evening and raped the younger teen.

The court docket heard the sufferer’s pal caught Zahinda ‘red-handed’ in mattress together with her and yelled at him: ‘Cease, she’s solely 15.’

Mr Kalali mentioned: ‘She is going to inform you that she was indignant and shouted at him, instructed him “f**ok off out” and he acquired off her, off on to the ground and was grabbing his garments and was making his manner out of the house.’

Prosecutor Martin Hinton KC, instructed the court docket that the sufferer noticed Bannah’s script tattoo through the rape, which is what led to trying on the Instagram picture.

‘A script tattoo between elbow and wrist is just not the kind of tattoo that half the Collingwood soccer membership has … it’s a very distinctive tattoo,’ he mentioned.

Bannah’s earlier lawyer, Michelle Barnes, argued through the trial that the outline of his tattoo did not match what he was carrying on the evening of the assault.

The court docket heard his tattoo sleeve would have been hidden by his jacket and he was carrying a black T-shirt whereas the sufferer described a white button-up.

Mr Wilson argued on Tuesday that proof, together with the identification process,  ought to have been excluded from the trial.

Zahinda’s lawyer, Andrew Culshaw, instructed the court docket through the trial that there was sufficient proof to convict his consumer, having been seen by the get together’s host.

He nonetheless argued on Tuesday that any miscarriage of justice decided within the jury’s verdict of Bannah also needs to be related for his consumer’s conviction.

Justices Sophie David, Kevin Nicholson and David Lovell have reserved their resolution.