Two men convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl during an 18th birthday party have been released on bail after the couple appealed their convictions.
A jury found Patrick Morie Bannah, 28, and Jonathan Zahinda, 26, guilty of raping a drunken teenager in the Adelaide District Court last November.
Bannah, an award-winning Afrobeat artist and producer from North Adelaide, was also found guilty of attempted rape, while Zahinda was later found guilty of dissuading a witness.
The couple were jailed for six years in February after the court heard they raped the girl at a party held at an Airbnb apartment in Adelaide in October 2020.
His lawyers have raised concerns about the jury’s verdicts in the Court of Appeal, arguing there was insufficient evidence to convict.
The court granted Bannah, who was already out on bail, simple conditions not to contact the victim on Tuesday.
Zahinda, from Bordertown, was granted bail on similar conditions and released from Mount Gambier Prison. Adelaide Advertiser reported.
His appeal is because the victim identified Bannah 10 months after the incident, which his lawyer John Wilson says should have been thrown out as evidence.
Two men convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl at a birthday party, Patrick Morie Bannah (pictured) and Jonathan Zahinda, have been released on bail after appealing a jury decision.
Mr Wilson told the Court of Appeal that the victim had seen pictures of his client on Instagram, which caused a “displacement effect” and she identified him as her rapist in a police line-up.
“The identification procedure had been so compromised by this potential displacement effect that it could not significantly assist the jury,” he said, according to the Advertiser.
Prosecution lawyer Ahura Kalali told the court during the trial that the girl drank alcohol for the first time and consumed cannabis before heading to a bedroom.
Bannah followed the 15-year-old into the bedroom and touched her vagina as she asked him to “stop”, before trying to push him away.
He then assaulted the victim again before leaving the room.
Zahinda entered the room later that night and raped the young teenager.
The court heard the victim’s friend caught Zahinda “red-handed” in bed with her and shouted at her: “Stop, she’s only 15.”
Mr Kalali said: ‘She will tell you she was angry and shouted at him, she said ‘f*** off’ and he got up off her, fell to the floor, grabbed her clothes and walked out of the flat.’
Jonathan Zahinda (pictured) has been released from prison after lodging an appeal against his sentence.
Prosecutor Martin Hinton KC told the court the victim saw the Bannah tattoo during the rape, prompting her to look at the Instagram photo.
‘A tattoo of a letter between the elbow and the wrist is not the kind of tattoo that half of the Collingwood football club has… it’s a very distinctive tattoo,’ he said.
Bannah’s previous attorney, Michelle Barnes, argued during the trial that the description of his tattoo did not match what he was wearing the night of the assault.
The court heard his tattoo sleeve was reportedly hidden by his jacket and he was wearing a black T-shirt, while the victim described a white button-down shirt.
Mr Wilson argued on Tuesday that the evidence, including the identification procedure, should have been excluded from the trial.
Zahinda’s lawyer, Andrew Culshaw, told the court during the trial that there was enough evidence to convict his client after he was seen by the party host.
However, he argued Tuesday that any miscarriage of justice found in Bannah’s jury verdict should also be relevant to his client’s conviction.
Judges Sophie David, Kevin Nicholson and David Lovell reserved their judgment.
