A Horowhenua music producer who sexually assaulted another man has been denied leave to appeal by the Supreme Court. Brett Stephen Taylor was convicted in December 2008 of drunkenly violating a 29-year-old male friend in July 2006, at his home in Waitarere Beach, Horowhenua. During the trial he was alleged to have used amyl nitrite to make the victim unconscious, but he was acquitted of the charge of stupefaction. Taylor was jailed for four years. An earlier appeal against his two sexual violation convictions was denied by the Court of Appeal. He sought leave to appeal from the Supreme Court on the grounds the trial judge should have given the jury a direction concerning possible unreliability of the evidence of the complainant and that the judge's directions to the jury to avoid sympathy or prejudice were inadequate. The Supreme Court has ruled the judge did tell the jury that the complainant's credibility and reliability was pivotal. It says the jury hardly needed to be reminded of the possibility that the complainant's recollection was affected by a drug taking or consumption of alcohol, as there was a good deal of evidence given about that at the short trial. "And, as the complainant himself had given evidence that he was a 'straight' male who had never had sexual contact previously with another male, the jury would also have been well aware of the possibility that his desire to be seen as such may have made suspect his claim that the sexual activity between the two men was not consensual," the ruling reads. The appeal claim was also on the grounds that the Court of Appeal was wrong in refusing to admit further expert evidence concerning the effect of alcohol consumption on memory and functionality. The Supreme Court agree with the Court of Appeal that the jury was unlikely to have required it, as the subject is "plainly not something which goes beyond common knowledge and experience".
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 20th July 2010 - 5:37pm