Indian, who raped teen, loses appeal bid
Friday, 05/09/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=114083&boxid=60020&uid=&dat=2014-09-05
Melbourne : An Indian taxi driver, who wasjailed for six years in Australia for raping a drunk and vulnerable 17-year-old schoolgirl, has lost his bid to overturn his conviction.
Nitin Rana, 31, was jailed for six years with a non parole period of four years after he was found guilty by the jury on three counts of rape.
Filling an appeal against his conviction, Rana claimed that there was a miscarriage of justice and also informed the police that he had had sex with the girl with her consent.
According to ‘The Age’ report, Court of Appeal Justices David Ashley and David Beach dismissed his appeal.
Ashley said evidence from many witnesses and the CCTV footage from the taxi revealed the teenager was in such a state that she was incapable of “giving free agreement to sexual penetration”.
“In my opinion, the jury would have been perverse to conclude otherwise,” Ashley said adding, “The complainant [the schoolgirl]...as evidenced by CCTV footage at several locations, was shown to be gravely disabled,” he said.
Beach said the footage from the taxi showed the victim lying slumped on the back seat.
“A short time into the journey, the complainant moved into the front seat of the taxi. Her appearance accords with a description given by one of the four people who put her in the taxi as ‘floppy,” he said.
Following his arrest, Rana informed the police that the teenager was “acting normally and did not seem drunk”.
“She was speaking very naturally and casually,” Rana told police. He said “She didn’t seem drunk at all.I remember since I picked her up until I dropped her [off], she was all in her senses.”PTI
