Conviction for rape upheld as Court finds hearsay rule correctly applied to evidence of drug consumption

The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal against a conviction for rape, originally heard in the Central Criminal Court, affirming both the conviction and sentence. The appellant argued that the trial judge erred by instructing the jury to disregard evidence of the complainant’s prior statements about the quantity of a drug consumed, recorded by a nurse, as inadmissible hearsay. The Court of Appeal found that the defence had not established the necessary evidential foundation for such statements to be admitted as exceptions to the hearsay rule, since the required procedure for proving a prior inconsistent statement had not been followed. Accordingly, the trial judge’s directions were correct, and the jury was entitled to rely only on the complainant’s direct evidence.