Linden Duckett acquitted of attempted murder, found guilty of Festival Plaza rape

After almost six hours of deliberation, a Supreme Court jury has found a man accused of a “brutal” attack did not try to kill her – but did rape her.

A man accused of two counts of rape and attempted murder under stairs in Adelaide’s Festival Plaza has been found guilty of one count of rape and acquitted of all other charges.

On Wednesday, a Supreme Court jury delivered its verdict in the case again Linden Mark Anthony Lloyd Duckett, 31, and found him guilty by majority of one count of rape.

The prosecution case before Justice Laura Stein and the jury alleged that on Thursday, June 16, 2022, Duckett, of Hope Valley, met his victim during a night in town drinking with a friend.

It was alleged the trio walked to the Festival Plaza together, towards the River Torrens and spent time talking and drinking before the second man left to take a short walk.

It was alleged Duckett and the victim started kissing, and when Duckett was refused sex he got aggressive, pushed her behind a nearby set of stairs and raped her – for which he was found guilty.

Duckett was unanimously acquitted of further allegations that after the complainant escaped the initial “brutal” attack, he caught her, raped her again and attempted to snap her neck.

During defence counsel’s closing, Noah Redmond for Duckett said the “inconsistent” statements made to people on the night and recollections in the victim’s testimony should raise reasonable doubt in their minds.

“I’ll pose to you the following hypothesis: (The woman) was the victim of an assault on a drunken night out … this assault scared her and she was worried that she might be raped and the accused might try to kill her,” Mr Redmond said.

“But that’s as far as it went … when she sobered up she’s conflated what happened with what she was worried would happen. In her mind, she has confused the two.”

Mr Redmond continued that her version of events didn’t align with the testimony of the second man – who had broken up the assault and walked her back to the train station after the rape.

He further said DNA evidence found on her underwear did not support the victim’s version of events either as Duckett was not confirmed to be a match for the semen found.

“The DNA I’d submit to you, sits somewhere between something that contradicts her, but it’s certainly something that doesn’t corroborate her.”

Mr Redmond told the jury they conceded that an assault did occur when Duckett and the victim had been left alone together, but it was “short of rape, short of attempted murder”.

The verdict was handed down after members of the jury deliberated for five hours and 59 minutes.

Duckett was remanded in custody for sentencing submissions at a later date.

Originally published as Linden Duckett acquitted of attempted murder, found guilty of Festival Plaza rape