Jury finds Kiama Downs man not guilty of raping Plenty of Fish date
A jury has handed down its decision in the case of an Illawarra man accused of raping a woman he met on a popular online dating site, Plenty of Fish.
Illawarra Star
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A jury has found a Kiama Downs man not guilty of three serious criminal charges, after a woman he met on an online dating site claimed he had raped her while she slept.
Andrew Swallow was found not guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of attempted sexual intercourse without consent on Monday, following an encounter between the pair in August 2016.
The jury took less than three hours to make their decision on November 25, after a six-day trial at Wollongong District Court in front of Judge Geoffery Graham.
Swallow was initially accused of raping the woman on August 4 and 5 in 2016, after meeting her on dating website Plenty of Fish.
During the trial, the Crown argued that on August 4, after returning to Swallow’s home after dinner together, the woman took her nightly medication to treat her PTSD, only to wake a few hours later to Swallow raping her.
“After she realised, she froze,” Crown prosecutor David Coulton told the jury. “She jumped up, screamed and said ‘what are you doing?’”.
But, still affected by medication, it was the Crown’s case the woman agreed to stay in bed with Swallow and again woke to him raping her some hours later.
The woman left the next day, but did not report the incident until almost two weeks later on August 16.
While the Crown agreed the pair had engaged in consensual sex in the day prior to August 4, it was alleged what happened that night was not, and that Swallow “was reckless about whether she consented”.
Swallow pleaded not guilty to the charges at the commencement of the trial, with his defence team arguing that while the pair did have sex that night - it was consensual.
It was the defence’s case the woman was not a reliable witness due to the medications she had taken that night, including valium and temazepam, and that she made the allegations to manipulate Swallow into a relationship with her.
The defence case also relied on text messages between Swallow and the woman, which revealed she had told Swallow she “regretted” having sex with him on the first night, and threatened him with criminal prosecution.
Swallow, who was supported by his current partner throughout the trial, remained composed as the verdict was handed down.