A jury has found a man accused of raping his Tinder date in 2016 in Sydney not guilty on all six charges of aggravated sexual assault.
Brazilian national Rogerio Luiz De Souza Correia was also found not guilty on six alternative counts of the lesser charge of sexual assault, at the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday.
The Crown alleged Correia had oral, vaginal and anal sexual intercourse with a 29-year-old woman without her consent while she repeatedly said “no” and tried to push him away.
Correia – who did not testify during the trial – pleaded not guilty to all six counts. His defence barrister Troy Anderson said Correia had inserted his fingers into the woman's vagina at one point, but that it was consensual.
Correia and the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met on the Tinder dating app in 2016.
The woman called the police immediately after the alleged assault and went straight to the hospital where doctors found semen in her labia. Anderson told the jury in his closing address on Monday that his client's semen may have made its way onto the woman's genitals via his fingers, not penis.
On Tuesday, Anderson told the court on Tuesday his client "has to go back to Villawood and will ultimately be repatriated" to his home country, the ABC reported.