Crown weighs up appeal after rape case thrown out

Blindfolded woman: I thought lover was a 20-year-old, not my estranged husband.

An appeal is being considered against a judge's decision to stop a rape case that's been compared to a scene from the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey.

The rape complainant accused her estranged husband of duping her into having sex with him by posing as a much younger man.

She was blindfolded and he wore a balaclava, the New Plymouth District Court heard.

The Crown Law Office has confirmed it may seek a retrial after Judge Allan Roberts discharged the jury on Monday, the sixth day of the trial, and the defendant walked free.

Prosecutor Justin Marinovich confirmed the case wasn't over yet.

"It's been sent down to Crown Law to consider appealing the decision to discharge."

The couple, both in their late 30s, had been married for about 15 years and had a child together.

After they broke up, she allegedly received texts from someone purporting to be a 20-year-old, but it was her husband using a new phone. Their texting became highly sexual in nature and eventually they arranged to meet for sex. He wore a balaclava and she a blindfold.

The first of two sexual encounters took place just over a year ago.

The woman had claimed she thought she was having sex with a 20-year-old. But the defendant claimed she knew his true identity or, at least, there was a risk it was him.

Fifty Shades of Grey is a popular erotic novel, the first in a trilogy owned by millions of women, including the complainant. Defence lawyer Paul Keegan raised it as a possible inspiration for the text messages.

Stratford Detective Glen Bosson told the Herald on Sunday the nature of the woman's evidence was extremely embarrassing and it was easy for people to judge her without knowing the full facts.

She was upset by media reports portraying her as a middle-aged, sexually needy woman who wanted to hook a younger man.

"She's very disappointed that the jury was never able to make a decision, that it was taken out of their hands.

"The Crown Solicitor obviously feels that there's a case, to send the file to Crown Law to review it with the intention of appealing the decision and hoping to take it back to a retrial. That's what I'd really like to see happen, more for the complainant's sake than anything."

Bosson said the woman had done a "fantastic" job in court.

"She was on the stand for 4 days. That's an enormous amount of time for anybody. For her to go through all of that and the decision not to even be able to go to the jury was pretty hard for her to take. I understand that and I appreciate that.

"We're going to make sure as police that we're there to provide whatever support she needs.

"She's an incredibly strong woman."

Bosson said the woman had been through a great deal there was more presented to the court than had been reported.

"She was going through a relationship break-up, she was desperate to move on. All of a sudden she was getting all this attention from somebody and it was completely different to anything she'd ever experienced before and she was taken in by that."

Paul Keegan could not be reached for comment.