A MAN accused of raping a young woman in the grounds of Huddersfield Parish Church was yesterday cleared by a jury at Bradford Crown Court.
Nathan Johnson was alleged to have raped the 22-year-old woman last July, but after nearly two hours of deliberation the jury returned a unanimous not guilty verdict.
The three-day trial had been told how Johnson, 19, had met the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, at a bus stop on Lord Street in the early hours of the morning in July last year.
The pair had then gone together into the Huddersfield Parish Church gardens where the woman had alleged that Johnson raped her while she was on the floor.
Johnson, of Park Hill, Bradley, had always admitted that they had sex but had maintained throughout that she was consenting.
Giving evidence, he told the jury that he had asked the woman if she would have sex with him and she agreed.
He added that a passer-by saw them and told them "to get a room".
Johnson said he and the woman had giggled at the remark.
He described how the woman left when she heard her friend calling her and it was only when he then saw her at a taxi rank a short time later that he became aware of what she was alleging.
When the friend accused him of rape Johnson said that he "flipped" at which point the complainant grabbed him by the hand and said `it's all right, you haven't done anything'.
The court had been told that the pair had been drinking separately in Johnny's night club and had never met prior to this incident.
Johnson told the jury he first saw the woman at the bus stop arguing with her friend.
He then said that he had started chatting her up and she had asked for his phone number before they had sex.
He was asked by his barrister John Elvidge: "The allegation is that in fact you couldn't care less if she consented or not. Is that true?"
Johnson replied: "No, not true."
After the jury delivered their verdict Judge Peter Benson told him that he was free to go.
