Justin Ko secures acquittal at Leicester Crown Court
Justin Ko secures acquittal in a rape and perverting the course of justice case involving two defendants at Leicester Crown Court following a 7-day trial.
The Crown alleged that the First Defendant had raped the Complainant, while the Second Defendant (Justin’s client) had attempted to pervert the course of justice by offering the Complainant money in exchange for withdrawing her allegation of rape. The Crown relied upon a recorded telephone call between Justin’s client and the Complainant, during which he suggested that she withdraw the rape allegation against the First Defendant in exchange for money.
During his cross-examination of the Complainant, Justin exposed a list of fabrications, including, amongst other matters, the institution at which the Complainant claimed to be studying and the subject of her studies, which was established through a LinkedIn search. His cross-examination also uncovered the reasons why the Complainant had initially made the rape allegation, as well as the significance of the one-year delay between the alleged telephone call and her subsequent allegation against Justin’s client. Ultimately, Justin exposed what was submitted to be the Complainant’s wider intention to exploit the immigration and asylum system and her last-ditch attempt to conceal that plan after she later realised Justin’s client had covertly recorded the telephone conversation.
Both Defendants were unanimously acquitted of all counts after just under two hours of jury deliberation. Following the verdicts, the Trial Judge described the prosecution as one of the most concerning prosecutions of his career and made observations to the Crown regarding the possibility of an investigation into the Complainant. Of particular significance, it was only following Justin’s cross-examination that the trial judge raised substantive concerns with the prosecution regarding the continuation of the case.
Justin was instructed by Black & Co Solicitors.
