A JURY in the trial of a Zimbabwean man accused of raping a 17-year-old New Zealand woman and indecently assaulting another has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict on the rape charge.
Munyaradzi Chikerema, 28, was found guilty of indecent assault at the Invercargill District Court last Friday and will be sentenced on September 23.
After a five-day trial, the jury could not reach a verdict on the rape charge. He now faces a retrial before a new jury.
Judge Phillips told Crown prosecutor John Young and defence lawyer Hugo Young he intended to discharge the jury from deliberating on the rape charge moments before its members returned to the courtroom at 5.40PM last Friday.
The jury's foreman had told him they could not reach a decision 50 minutes before returning to the court and despite him giving them direction that situation had not changed, he told the lawyers.
"They're really saying they are deadlocked."
Before the jury retired at 10.10AM, the issue of consent and what Chikerema believed dominated Judge Kevin Phillips' summary of the case.
On the rape and sexual violation charges, it was for the Crown to prove the woman was not consenting and to prove Chikerema did not hold a reasonable belief she had consented, he said.
Summarising the Crown case, he reminded the jury Crown Prosecutor John Young had pointed out the implausibility of a 17-year-old virgin having met Chikerema only an hour previously would then consent to have sex with him.
Chikerema's lawyer Hugo Young had said the woman had willingly gone into the sand dunes with him, Judge Phillips said.
On the second charge, for which Chikerema was found guilty, the Crown case was that the Zimbabwean had made attempts to touch the second woman's breasts and to kiss her, he said.
Chikerema’s lawyer Hugo Young had told the court the incident was nothing more than playful and good fun and his client had grounds to believe he had consent, Judge Phillips told the jury.
Chikerema was arrested after an incident Oreti Beach in the coastal town of Southland on May 11 last year.
Prosecutors said he met the alleged rape victim on the internet. She brought along her friend, also 17, to their first date at the beach.
Once at the beach, Chikerema allegedly lured her rape accuser out of the car and into sand dunes before violating, then raping her.
When the pair returned to the car Chikerema indecently assaulted the second woman when he ran his hand up her leg and attempted to touch her breasts.