Our client was a 75 year old grandfather facing allegations of a sexual kind brought by his granddaughter, now aged 14. The alleged abused was said to have taken place when she was aged between 7 and 9 on an almost weekly basis over the course of about a year.
At trial, we adduced evidence from the complainant’s mother, along with our client’s wife and son, demonstrating that there was no opportunity for the offences to have taken place and the complainant’s claim that she had ‘distanced’ herself from our client since the alleged offending was untrue. Part of this evidence included that, after the alleged period of abuse, the complainant willingly went on two overseas holidays with our client notwithstanding her purported discomfort in his company. Given the enormity of the inconsistencies and weaknesses in the prosecution’s own case, we were confident in advising our client not to give evidence.
The jury were not satisfied the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, deliberating under two hours to deliver a unanimous verdict of not guilty.