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

Two men found guilty of raping an intoxicated 15-year-old at a party have walked free as they await their fate to see if their convictions are overturned.

Two men who were found guilty of raping an intoxicated 15-year-old at a party are on bail as they fight to have their convictions overturned.

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 arguing the jury got it wrong and there wasn’t enough evidence to convict them.
On Tuesday, Bannah – who is already on bail – was granted simple bail conditions, with the condition he not contact the victim.
Zahinda, who was in Mount Gambier prison, was also granted bail on similar conditions.

Jonathon Zahinda after an earlier appearance. Picture: Dean Martin

Patrick Bannah was found guilty of rape. Photo: Facebook

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, the Court was told.

He was also alleged to have then attempted to sexually assault the child again before leaving the room.

The Court was also told that Zahinda then came into the bedroom later in the evening and also raped the girl.

When police investigated, Zahinda allegedly 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 some of the evidence should have been excluded from the trial, including the identification procedure which occurred 10 months after the alleged offending.

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 line-up.

“The identification procedure had been so compromised by that potential displacement effect it could not meaningfully assist the jury,” he said.

Martin Hinton KC, prosecuting, said the victim saw the offender’s script tattoo during the rape, which is what led to looking at the Instagram photo.

“A script tattoo between elbow and wrist is not the sort of tattoo that half the Collingwood football club has … it is a very distinctive tattoo,” he said.

Andrew Culshaw, for Zahinda, previously told the court 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.
Justices Sophie David, Kevin Nicholson and David Lovell have reserved their decision.

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