Court of Appeal dismisses appeal against conviction for rape and other sexual offences, on the grounds that: (a) it was not the case that the offences alleged could not have been committed within the periods on the various counts on the indictment, and the trial judge was correct to let those counts go to the jury for a conclusion to be reached on each count; and (b) evidence as to one of the witness's demeanour in a previous trial may have had some tangential relevance to her credibility, but it had been entirely within the discretion of the trial judge to disallow the line of questioning that the defence had wished to pursue.
Appeal against conviction - 37 counts of rape, two counts of rape contrary to s. 4 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 and 35 counts of sexual assault - three separate complainants, all of whom are daughters of the appellant - whether trial judge erred in failing to grant a direction for an acquittal on a significant number of the counts on the indictment, in circumstances where there was insufficient evidence to sustain such counts - whether trial judge erred in refusing the defence’s application to refer to the conduct of one of the complainants during the appellant’s previous trial, wherein the trial judge had threatened to hold the complainant in contempt arising from her attempts to influence the jury through her demeanour.