R v Aston-Brien

The appeal before the court was brought by the appellant, Aston-Brien, against his conviction and sentence on a charge of rape. The complainant in the case was a person who, at the time of the offence, was recovering from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Additionally, the complainant was a user of amphetamines. Following the incident in question, the appellant provided the complainant with drugs. The following day, the complainant disclosed the incident to the appellant's girlfriend. Approximately six months later, a further complaint was made, which resulted in the arrest of the appellant. During the trial, the first complaint was not treated as recent for the purposes of the proceedings. The trial judge also did not give any directions regarding the permissible use of the initial complaint. The central legal issues that the court had to decide were whether a direction should have been given to warn the jury that evidence of the prior complaint was not evidence of facts in issue and whether there should have been a direction regarding evidence tending to show the appellant was of bad character.

The court found that the trial judge's failure to provide a direction regarding the use of the initial complaint was an error. It was held that the jury should have been warned that evidence of the prior complaint was not evidence of facts in issue, as it was not treated as recent. Additionally, the court considered the issue of whether there should have been a direction regarding evidence tending to show the appellant was of bad character. The court held that it was an impermissible conclusion that the appellant's involvement with drugs constituted guilt of the offence of rape. The lack of direction regarding the use of the prior complaint and the impermissible conclusion regarding the appellant's character were considered to have vitiated the trial. Consequently, the appeal against the conviction was allowed, and a new trial was ordered.