Francis ‘Frank’ Crameri: jury discharged after finding him not guilty on one count of rape

A jury has been discharged after finding a former Maryborough schoolteacher not guilty on one count of rape.

Francis Xavier "Frank" Crameri was found not guilty on one charge of rape. Picture: Craig Dunlop

A former Maryborough teacher has been found not guilty of one count of rape by a jury that was subsequently discharged after it could not come to a unanimous verdict on the remaining charges.

Francis Xavier “Frank” Crameri, 66, pleaded not guilty to charges of raping and sexually assaulting a woman in a country motel in 2020.

After two and a half days of deliberation, the jury came to a unanimous verdict that Mr Crameri was not guilty on one charge of rape.

Mr Crameri and his family were noticeably relieved when the jury came back with its verdict.

It had been alleged by the prosecution that Mr Crameri, without consent, sucked the woman’s nipples, briefly sexually penetrated her, and forced her to touch his genitalia while staying at a motel during a trip in regional Victoria.

Judge George Georgiou thanked the jury for their “diligence” before he discharged them.

“I am left with no option but to discharge you,” Judge Georgiou said.

Francis Crameri faced an 11-day trial over the alleged rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2020. Picture: Generic

“It is unfortunate but our experience is these things do happen in the system of criminal justice that we have.”

The trial was expected to last seven days but went for 11.

Outside court, Mr Crameri was mobbed by his family.

It was unclear whether a retrial would occur, with Mr Crameri set to return to court on March 12 to decide what happens next.

In closing submissions to a County Court jury on Monday, Crameri’s barrister Richard Edney said the case against his client “rises and falls on whether you accept (the woman) as a witness of truth”.

Mr Edney said the woman “omitted key parts of her narrative”.

“When you omit material in any account, in any story, the true context is lost,” he said.

The trial heard Crameri was an upstanding member of the community and with no criminal record.

Mr Edney said it was inconceivable Crameri “after six decades on this earth, turned into a sexual predator.”

“(The woman) in my submission to you, falls into the category of someone who does not want to accept any responsibility, any agency, for what happened between her and Mr Crameri,” Mr Edney said.

In her closing submissions, Prosecutor Fiona Martin said Mr Crameri, in an interview with detectives, remembered precise details about the trip away, down what he had for lunch, but not the night of his alleged offending.

“Mr Crameri was not being truthful in his interview,” Ms Martin said.

“I suggest to you that interview was not one of someone doing their best to recall … it was the interview of someone who was not being truthful.”