Airman found not guilty of attempting to rape Tinder date’s sleeping housemate

AN airman accused of trying to rape the flatmate of his Tinder date has been found not guilty after the case went to trial for the third time.

Renju Reghunath, 34, at the Supreme Court in Darwin in 2019. Picture: Keri Megelus

• Final trial day for airman accused of trying to rape Tinder date’s flatmate
• Airman who allegedly tried to rape his Tinder date’s sleeping housemate faces trial in Darwin

AN airman accused of trying to rape the flatmate of his Tinder date has been found not guilty after the case went to trial for the third time.

Renju Reghunath, 35, pleaded not guilty in the Darwin Supreme Court last week to one count of attempted rape after matching with the woman’s housemate on the dating app in July 2018.

Throughout the trial, the Crown alleged Reghunath went into the bedroom of his date’s sleeping housemate after his date told him she was too tired to have sex.

The alleged victim told the court in her evidence that she woke to find him holding her arms down with one hand and moving her underwear to the side with the other.

The Crown also alleged Reghunath had expressed an interest in having a threesome with his date and her flatmate.

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However, Reghunath said in his evidence that he walked into the alleged victim’s bedroom mistakenly thinking it was the bedroom of his date and lay down on the bed.

He denied trying to have sex with her but only “touched her” in an attempt to calm her down.

The jury were sent out to deliberate on Friday afternoon and reached their unanimous non-guilty verdict by midday Monday.

During her closing address, Reghunath’s lawyer Mary Chalmers said the alleged victim had lied about her client attempting to rape her to “make a point” about her housemate’s lifestyle because she was bringing home too many men.

“It’s human, we do it. She exaggerated, she embellished to make her point.”

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This is the third time the case has been to trial after the jury could not reach an unanimous verdict the first time and the trial had to be vacated because of a mistake made by Reghunath’s former lawyer the second time.

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