Man set free after judges case doubt on rape victim’s story

A man jailed for raping an elderly woman at knifepoint in her Bayside home has been released from prison after appeal judges questioned the 71-year-old woman’s credibility.

A man jailed for raping an elderly woman has been released from prison after judges cast doubt on the woman’s story.

A man jailed for raping an elderly woman at knifepoint in her Bayside home has been set free as appeal judges cast doubt over the 71-year-old woman’s credibility.

Richard Bangoura was sentenced to 11 years and six months behind bars, with a non-parole period of eight years, after a County Court jury found him guilty of two counts of rape.

He was also convicted on two counts of threat to inflict serious injury and one count each of aggravated burglary and stalking.

The complainant alleged it was Mr Bangoura who put a knife to her ribs and neck as she went to open her door on returning home in the early hours of November 2, 2018.

He pushed her inside, told her to undress, before directing her to take him to her bedroom, where he raped her, she said.

She claimed he threatened to “cut her up” if she called the cops.

A judge found the woman’s evidence was riddled with lies. Stock image.

Court of Appeal president Karin Emerton and Justices Phillip Priest and Stephen McLeish on Thursday found the guilty verdicts were unsafe and “cannot be supported by the evidence”.

“In my opinion, there is a real risk in this case that an innocent man has been convicted,” Justice Priest said.

Justice Priest found the complainant’s evidence during the trial was riddled with “lies, improbabilities, inconsistencies, discrepancies and other inadequacies”.

“I consider that the lies told by the complainant, and the multiple inconsistencies and improbabilities in her evidence, should have led any jury acting reasonably to doubt her credibility and reliability to the extent that the jury should have entertained a reasonable doubt about the applicant’s guilt,” he said.

Mr Bangoura, from Guinea in West Africa, had always vehemently denied the allegations, saying the rape either did not occur or that he was not the offender.

A County Court jury previously found Mr Bangoura guilty of two counts of rape.

He said he and the woman knew each other from their local pokies venue, and that she had borrowed money from him.

He admitted he had gone to her house on November 3, 5 and 7 to collect the $200 debt owed, which was the subject of the stalking charge, but she never answered.

It was on these occasions, the woman said she identified him as her attacker through the peephole and did not open the door in fear.

Justice Priest found Mr Bangoura’s version of events more consistent with the evidence.

“Unlike, perhaps, in television crime dramas and popular fiction — rapists generally do not return to the scene of the crime, ring the doorbell of their victims and wait politely for an answer,” he said.

He said the complainant’s evidence her attacker initially had his face concealed with a mesh material but took it off before raping her, and that he told her his name was Michael to disguise his identity was “highly unlikely to be true”.

Other discrepancies the judges said reflected poorly on the alleged victims’ credibility included:

DESPITE saying she saw her attacker naked, she made no reference to a large distinguished birthmark across his chest and shoulder, in which Mr Bangoura has;

SHE initially told police she had washed her clothes and bedsheets, destroying any forensic evidence, but when giving evidence at trial claimed she threw the linen in the rubbish bin without washing them because she did not want to be reminded of the attack; and

LYING on the stand that she did not leave her unit on her own until she heard that her attacker had been arrested when CCTV proved otherwise.

The three judges acquitted Mr Bangoura on all six charges.

They did not order he face a retrial.

The ruling means he will be freed from prison, and will no longer be facing deportation.