Jury to retire in alleged rape trial

Thursday 31 August 2017

The jury is expected to retire today to consider their verdict in the Royal Court trial against a 32-year-old man who is accused of having raped and indecently assaulted a woman who spent the night at his flat in December 2015.

Wayne Highfield is pleading not guilty to all charges against him, three counts of indecent assault and one count of rape.

Yesterday afternoon, Mr Highfield was cross-examined for the prosecution by Crown Advocate Simon Thomas. The defendant's version of events - that the woman was awake when he went to bed and willingly engaged in sexual activity with him before telling him she was married - was challenged by the Crown Advocate.  

Advocate Thomas also challenged the defendant's statement that the woman had been flirting with him, saying it wasn't particularly directed at him and she was just being friendly. He added that she never made any suggestion that she wanted any sexual activity nor did she give any indication she was interested in Mr Highfield. 

The Crown Advocate said: "She gave no indication of being attracted to you for four to five hours and yet if you are right she must have been interested in you to engage in sexual activity with you." 

Mr Highfield denied giving the woman a love bite, adding he hadn't done anything wrong as it was completely out of his character.

When the Crown Advocate asked Mr Highfield why he had chosen not to comment on what had happened the night of the alleged incident, saying he wanted to wait for the results of the forensics tests, the defendant replied he was following his lawyer’s advice. The Crown Advocate suggested he had done so in order to make up an explanation that would fit in with the results.

Advocate Thomas then went on to say: "The one and only reason this woman went into your bedroom is because she seriously wanted to get some sleep before going home to her child. You took advantage of a sleeping woman in your bed, perhaps you were influenced by the amount of alcohol and cannabis you consumed."

Mr Highfield replied, "That didn’t happen." He then agreed there is no consent if sexual activity starts when a woman is asleep, but denied that it was the case the night of the alleged incident. 

As part of the defence's case, Advocate Michael Haines called some of Mr Highfield's friends, two men that were with him the night before the alleged incident, as well as two women who have been friends for several years.

Mr Highfield was described as kind, caring, respectful, polite and a nice person to be around. His friends said he is not an aggressive person but rather calm and always friendly.

One of the men who was in the flat the night of 28 December 2015 said that the woman who accuses Mr Highfield was very friendly, although he wouldn’t call her flirtatious. He said she was like that with everybody else in the room and he didn’t think she was inviting Mr Highfield in any way.

The trial will resume this morning with both the prosecution and the defence making their closing speeches. The Bailiff, Sir William Bailhache, will then give his directions to the 12 members of the jury, five women and seven men, before they retire to consider their verdict.