The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Man cleared after found guilty of rape
Aman found guilty by a jury of raping a teenager in Fife was cleared by a judge due to corroboration rules.
Cailan Duchain was cleared of raping the youngster in woods at Burntisland after the judge intervened to overturn the jury’s verdict.
The prosecution relied on the Moorov doctrine, allowing for corroboration to be established through proving a course of conduct when there are no witnesses to the alleged crimes.
In Duchain’s case the jury cleared him of two charges of raping a second girl, removing the corroboration required to convict him of raping the first.
Duchain, 24, of Alcester, Warwickshire, had denied committing eight sexual offences against the two teenage girls, including four allegations of rape.
Duchain had lodged special defences to the rape charges at the High Court in Livingston, claiming both girls had consented to having sex with him.
After watching video recordings of the complainers recounting their experiences, jurors returned a majority verdict finding Duchain guilty of raping the 17-year-old girl in 2019.
They returned a unanimous not proven verdict to a second charge of raping the same girl in her home a year later.
The jury went on to return majority verdicts finding two further allegations he had raped a 15-year-old girl in woods and a hotel in Dumfries in 2020 not proven.
He was acquitted of the four charges after the Crown withdrew the allegations.
Judge Thomas Hughes said because there was no corroboration of the Burntisland rape charge, he had to to instruct his clerk to change their guilty verdict to one of not proven by a majority.
He told jurors: “You were prepared to convict on charge two and not on any other charge. As a result there can be no corroboration on any of that.
“It looks quite clear from your decision that you do not have the cross check that the Crown had to establish, so there will be acquittals in respect of all of the charges in this case.”
The judge added: “Mr Duchain, the court has acquitted you in respect of all of the charges that you faced and as a result you’re now free to go.”
Duchain made no comment as he left court.