Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Toby Vue

Case dropped against busker accused of raping drunk woman found in park

A rape charge against Canberra busker Wallace Nya Quoibia has been dropped after a trial resulted in a hung jury. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge. Picture by Rohan Thomson

The ACT DPP has dropped its rape case against a busker after a trial earlier this year resulted in a hung jury.

Wallace Nya Quoibia, 55, faced a one-week ACT Supreme Court trial in September-October after he pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.

The trial heard Quoibia last December took a heavily drunk woman back to his unit after he found her alone at Glebe Park.

The prosecution alleged he then raped her while she slept on his bed.

Quoibia later took the complainant, in her 20s, to her aunt's house and said he saved her.

Prior to being taken to his place, the complainant and her cousin were drinking in the latter's unit in Reid before they went to Mooseheads where Quoibia was busking nearby.

During her examination in chief, the complainant, who had the support of a witness intermediary, reiterated most of what she told police.

She said that after getting dressed, she "just felt really gross" and that "something didn't feel right".

Her memory of what happened was challenged during cross examination.

Quoibia maintained that no sexual activity occurred that night.

The trial heard he participated in a police interview in which he said the complainant accepted his offer to go to his place.

He told police that, while at the unit, he came out of the bathroom to see the complainant naked on his bed before he rebuffed her.

Other evidence came from an Australian Federal Police forensic biologist, who said no male DNA nor semen were found on the complainant.

In her closing address, prosecutor Sofia Janackovic said that while the complainant "was not the perfect historian", the jury would accept the complainant's words.

Defence lawyer Sarah Baker-Goldsmith, in closing, said the complainant was not a credible witness and she said multiple times about having a "weird memory" without being able to explain it.

Ms Baker-Goldsmith said that during the complainant's evidence in court, she littered her evidence with "maybe, I reckon, I believe, I would have, they believe", which the defence lawyer said may show an effort to reconstruct various events.

Ms Baker-Goldsmith had said in her opening that there was no sexual contact and no sexual intercourse between them.

"Mr Quoibia did talk to police and he did so voluntarily and he provided his DNA voluntarily," she said.

After being unable to reach a verdict for about two days, the jury was discharged and the case was set to return to court for an administrative listing.

The ACT DPP in November filed a notice declining to proceed further in a prosecution.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.