Home News Rape accused acquitted after retrial
A man accused of raping a woman with whom he shared a “relationship” was on Wednesday acquitted of the charge after a 12-member mixed jury unanimously found him not guilty. Stephen Mc Curdy also called “Shermon Jackson” and “Jaganie” was alleged to have committed the offence on November 19, 2017.
The prosecution’s case stated that the virtual complainant related that she had known Mc Curdy some three weeks before she was raped by him. She also shared that they shared “a friendship type of relationship”. On November 1, 2017, she said she went to Mc Curdy’s mother’s residence and stayed for a short while.
On November 18, 2017, after she was sexually molested by Mc Curdy, the prosecutors stated that the woman left the home and went in search of a new place to live. But she eventually returned to Mc Curdy’s home. The following day, while sleeping, she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
When she inquired who it was, the person said “Jaganie”. The prosecutors added that she opened the door for the man to come into her bedroom. After a while, he left and went into the living room. Mc Curdy came back into the bedroom while the woman was sitting on the bed and sat alongside her.
He allegedly told her, “Is four nights now you did not give me sex and I have to have sex tonight.” According to the prosecutors, Mc Curdy chucked the woman onto a bed and had sex with her against her will. The woman related that she tried pushing him off of her, but he refused to stop.
Further, she related that when Mc Curdy was finished, she got up from the bed. She recalled that the man chucked her thrice into a wall, after which she told him that she was moving out. She said that while she was preparing to leave, Mc Curdy threw her belongings out of his mother’s house.
A Police report was lodged against Mc Curdy by the virtual complainant. Meanwhile, Mc Curdy, in his defence, denied raping the woman. During an unsworn statement, he said that he was not at home at the time she alleged the incident took place.
This was the man’s second trial for the offence as his initial trial ended in a hung jury a while back.