Patrick Bannah and Jonathan Zahinda appealing against their convictions for raping a 15-year-old girl

An Adelaide musician and his co-accused have argued a jury did not have enough evidence to convict them of raping a child at a party.

Two men who were found guilty of raping an intoxicated 15-year-old at a party have argued the jury got it wrong and there simply wasn’t enough evidence, a court has heard.

Patrick Morie Bannah, also known as Adelaide singer and award-winning afrobeat artist Loverboy (who also goes by the stage name ConCcoins), and Jonathan Zahinda are fighting to have their convictions overturned.

Counsel, for the men, have argued to the Court of Appeal that there was a miscarriage of justice after their clients were convicted and jailed for six years in February.

During sentencing, the District Court heard the victim was at an 18th birthday party in an Adelaide Airbnb apartment in October 2020.

She drank alcohol for the first time and tried cannabis before going into one of the bedrooms.

Bannah then came into the bedroom and started touching the victim’s genitalia, with her telling him to stop.

Patrick Bannah was found guilty of rape and attempted rape. Photo: Facebook

Jonathon Zahinda was jailed for over six years. Picture: Dean Martin

He went on to attempt to sexually assault the child again before leaving the room.

Zahinda then came into the bedroom later in the evening and also raped the girl.

When police investigated, Zahinda sent the victim a message telling her to drop the charges.

A jury found Bannah, 28, of Elizabeth Grove, and Zahinda, 26, of Bordertown, guilty of rape.

Bannah was also found guilty of attempted rape, while Zahinda was found guilty of dissuading a witness last year.

John Wilson, for Bannah, told the Court of Appeal that identity was a central issue at trial and the jury’s verdict was unreasonable and not supported by evidence.

“Obviously the argument is that the prosecution evidence lacked the capacity to prove beyond reasonable doubt (Bannah’s) identity as the offender,” he said.

Mr Wilson said the victim described the man who raped her as wearing different clothing than what Bannah was pictured wearing at the party.

Mr Wilson said the victim saw photos of Bannah on Instagram, which led to the “displacement effect” of her then identifying him as her rapist in a police identification line-up.

Patrick Bannah, known as Loverboy, has argued there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. Picture: Social Media

His counsel said the jury’s verdict was unsupported by evidence. Picture: Social Media

He also argued that the judge’s directions to the jury weren’t appropriate on the topic of identification and it couldn’t be excluded that another guest at the party was the true offender.

Andrew Culshaw, for Zahinda, admitted there was enough evidence to convict Zahinda, who was sighted by the party host, but it wasn’t “unassailable” by a long shot.

Mr Culshaw said the fact that the jury entered a verdict for Bannah that was unsupported by evidence should assert that there was a miscarriage of justice in their other convictions.

“Where a jury has demonstrated itself as not capable of getting it right or to put it in the opposite and more correct way capable of getting it so wrong, then at that point why do we repose trust in that jury … to properly apply the standard of proof,” he said.

Both men will appear in court again in July for further submissions.

Originally published as Patrick Bannah and Jonathan Zahinda appealing against their convictions for raping a 15-year-old girl