Female Nurse Acquitted of Assault by Penetration

Our client faced one count of assault by penetration, or sexual assault in the alternative. She is a nurse of good character, and the incident arose after she and two other nurses (one male friend and the female complainant) went back to our client’s flat during a night out and engaged in consensual sexual activity.

It was alleged that our client’s long nails caused the complainant’s vagina to bleed during this activity, so she and our client went to the bathroom together, leaving the male in the bedroom. The sexual activity continued in the bathroom, where it is said that our client kissed the complainant and inserted the vibrator into her vagina, at which point the complainant withdrew her consent. Our client was alleged to have continued this activity and kissed and strangled her without her consent.

Our client’s case was that she stopped as soon as the complainant said stop and never used the vibrator to penetrate her vagina. She submitted a detailed prepared statement at the police station, meaning she had given her account at the earliest opportunity.

This case was complicated by religious and cultural issues: our client was born in Lebanon to a family of Palestinian refugees and is Islamic. Sexual activity with a woman is considered “Haram” (forbidden). The Crown interpreted messages sent by our client after the incident as her apologising for a sexual assault. It was our case that the messages are expressions of our client’s feeling of regret and shame around engaging in homosexual activity: our client was distressed, as her behaviour conflicted with her identity and values.

We instructed a cultural expert to consider the meaning of Haram, Haram in the context of homosexuality, and how engaging in an activity that is “Haram” might impact a Muslim person with our client’s cultural background. Our expert agreed that awareness of this background could impact the interpretation of the messages. Our client is grateful for our efforts to educate ourselves and the jury about her background.

The Crown objected to the admissibility on several fronts, including that our client was not a strict Muslim, as she drinks alcohol – however, we considered that this ignored the nuances of practising religion and separates religion artificially from cultural upbringings. We were able to have parts of our report agreed for trial.

Our other work included taking statements from those that worked with both our client and the complainant about their characters and conduct in the workplace. We obtained disclosure regarding the reporting of the incident to the complainant and our client’s workplace and relied on inconsistencies therein, which were skillfully displayed by Counsel at trial. We relied on both written and live character witnesses.

Following a 5-day trial before Inner London Crown Court sitting at the Royal Court of London, the jury swiftly returned verdicts of not guilty to both counts. Our client was overwhelmed with relief that she could return to work and continue helping others. She commented on the excellent representation from Counsel and the benefits of having a queer solicitor conduct her case. She noted that she felt her representation was non-judgemental and understanding.

She stated:

“I met the brilliant Phoebe, she did all the magic behind the scenes. As I met Phoebe we sat for 3 hours talking about the case and she was listening to every detail with no judgements. She showed respect, understanding, empathy, and kindness, which made me feel comfortable to talk more and express myself, my feelings and thoughts. It's worth mentioning that having a queer solicitor helped me feel safe and understood as the case was mainly related to me exploring sexual orientations and Phoebe was beyond amazing at comprehending my feelings and thoughts about the incident. Phoebe went above and beyond by showing up on the final court date to support me with whatever verdict we will get, this meant a lot to me.”

Phoebe Coleman was the solicitor with conduct of this case. She instructed Rosalia Myttas-Perris of Crucible Law.