B v AG

On 5 th February, 2020 the Applicant ("the defendant") was convicted by unanimous verdict of the jury of one count of rape upon his wife ("the complainant"). The offence was alleged to have occurred on 1 st December, 2018 during a family holiday in Region of Europe 1. He was subsequently sentenced to 4½ years' imprisonment. He now seeks leave to appeal against his conviction.

The prosecution case consisted essentially of the evidence of the complainant, evidence of recent complaints to a number of friends shortly after the alleged rape, and evidence of a meeting after the incident between Dr C, a psychiatrist, and both the complainant and the defendant.

The defendant and the complainant were married in 2007 and have two children; a daughter and a son [redacted]. They came to live in Jersey in 2016. [Redacted].

According to the complainant, the marriage encountered difficulties from about August 2018, and in early October 2018, the defendant told the complainant that he was going leave her. During the course of the next few weeks, the complainant sent five emails to the defendant describing her feelings. These were admitted in evidence and we shall refer to them further below. The emails show that the complainant wished the marriage to continue and a recurring theme was the defendant's desire to have sexual intercourse more frequently than the complainant.

Towards the end of October, the family went on holiday to Region of Europe 2. A week or two before that, the complainant had discovered that the defendant had been having an affair with a 23 year old patient K, although the defendant told her at that stage that it was simply an emotional affair and there was nothing physical. The complainant said that she and the defendant nevertheless had frequent consensual sexual intercourse during the holiday in Region of Europe 2. On 31 st October 2018, she sent a further email explaining her feelings during the course of which she said the following:-