NT cop Patrick Carson found not guilty of raping teenager after ‘intense personal relationship’

An NT Police officer charged with raping a teenage friend two years ago has been acquitted on all charges.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY: AN NT Police officer charged with raping a teenage friend two years ago has been acquitted on all charges.

Senior Sergeant Patrick Carson had pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to both counts of sexually assaulting the 19-year-old in 2020 before the jury retired to consider its verdict on Wednesday.

Less than an hour later the nine men and three women were back in the jury box where they delivered verdicts of not guilty across both counts and Sgt Carson walked from court a free man.

Sgt Carson showed little emotion as the judgment was handed down but, speaking outside court, thanked the large group of supporters who had been in court during the one and a half week trial.

“I’d like to start by just acknowledging that there are no winners in a case like this,” he said.

“I’d like to thank the men and women of the jury for their incredibly important work reaffirming my innocence.

“And I’d like to just acknowledge and thank my wife, my family, my friends for their unwavering support across the past 21 months.

“I look forward to putting this painful period behind us.”

EARLIER: A WOMAN who was allegedly raped by a serving NT Police officer is “a liar” who continued to send him “love hearts” in a “secret chat” after the incidents, a court has heard.

Patrick Carson, 39, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping the then 19-year-old after forming “an intense personal relationship” with her in 2020.

In her closing address to the jury on Tuesday, his barrister Mary Chalmers SC said messages between the pair “seem to suggest that perhaps they were on the cusp of an actual affair, rather than just that strong level of emotional intimacy”.

“The classic one is her message to her friend on the afternoon of the (first alleged rape) saying ‘We really nearly stuffed things up’,” she said.

“It suggests perhaps they were on the cusp of an affair, that one or both of them pulled back, whether it’s because of the age difference, or because Mr Carson was married, or whatever reason.

Patrick Carson outside court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

But Ms Chalmers said the jurors were “not here to sit in moral judgment on people’s relationships”.

“We’re all grown ups in this room,” she said.

“We know that these dalliances happen from time to time and some of you might not approve of people having these dalliances with that particular age gap, or with those particular relationships, for example, a married man, but they do happen.

“You might not approve, you might think ‘Oh that’s not ideal’, but you really need to call that out and park it to the side and get on with your job of deciding the facts that are relevant in this case and really putting this witness’s evidence, her truthfulness as a witness, to the test.”

Ms Chalmers said if the woman “hasn’t been straight with you about the nature of the relationship then you cannot use her evidence to find Mr Carson guilty”.

She said if the woman was “quite frighteningly and violently raped … why (is she) still engaging in secret chats with that man?”.

“How easy would it be to simply exit the secret chat to block the person on Facebook or whatever it is you do?” she asked.

“She never did any of those things, she stayed in communication with him, and not just ordinary communication, a secret chat communication, so you really have to ask yourself what on Earth is going on here.”

Ms Chalmers said the woman continued to message Carson until he sent her a “goodbye and good luck message” weeks after the second alleged rape.

“This woman has not been straight with you,” she said.

“No one stays in a secret chat with their rapist or continues to send love hearts to them, it just really doesn’t hold water.”

The jury will retire to consider its verdicts on Wednesday.