The Judge will give directions to the jury later this week.
There are four key elements to a sexual offence in order to establish guilt. The prosecution must prove each of the four beyond reasonable doubt, otherwise, a jury must acquit. The defendant is not required to prove his innocence:
Actus Reus - that a physical sexual act occurred, and
Mens Rea - that the defendant intended to do the physical act and was aware the complainant did not consent or was reckless as to whether there was consent, and
Voluntariness - that the defendant's actions were not involuntary, and
Temporal Coincidence - namely, that both 1 and 2 above occurred at the same time.
To re-iterate, each of the four must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or guilt is not established. Proof of Actus Reus, for example, could be an independent witness, early complaint to police, early medical examination, retention of clothing for forensic analysis etc. The defendant here has denied Element 1, upon which the other 3 are dependent. In his summing up Counsel for the defence submitted to the jury that the "kindest way" of summarising the prosecution case is that "Ms Higgins does not know what has happened".
We should expect a decision from the jury before the end of the week.
