R v S

The appellant, R, appealed against his conviction on multiple counts of aggravated assault and rape. The complainant, his wife, alleged that the offences occurred at various times between 2009 and 2012. The appeal was heard by Kelly, Blue, and Stanley JJ.

The grounds of appeal raised by the appellant included the trial judge's alleged failure to direct the jury that the date of the offence was a material particular, the contention that the guilty verdict was inconsistent with not guilty verdicts on other counts and therefore unreasonable, the submission that the judge failed to properly direct the jury regarding a forensic disadvantage suffered by the appellant, and the overarching ground that the verdict was unreasonable or unsupported by the evidence.

The court considered the discrepancies in the dates of the alleged offences as presented in the information and the complainant's evidence, noting that for counts 1-3, the alleged dates in the information differed from the complainant's testimony regarding the timing of events. Similarly, for counts 4 and 5, the information alleged a date in May 2009, while the complainant's evidence placed the events later in June 2009. The court also examined the evidence relating to the alleged assault with a wooden dowel and subsequent sexual intercourse. After reviewing the appellant's contentions and the evidence independently, the court concluded that the grounds of appeal did not establish that the verdict was unreasonable or unsupported by the evidence.

Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.