A 33-year-old man has been found not guilty of raping a woman he met on the dating app Tinder in Sydney.
As the ABC reports, a jury found Brazilian man Rogerio Luiz De Souza Correia not guilty of six counts of aggravated sexual assault and not guilty of six counts of sexual assault.
Correia was accused of raping the 29-year-old woman, who cannot be named, after the pair met on Tinder in 2016.
The woman claimed she and Correia chatted on Tinder for five weeks before they met at a party being held at her Sydney apartment. The pair then left for a pub in Surry Hills to keep drinking before returning to her home at about 5am.
The Crown alleged that Correia assaulted the woman despite her efforts to push him away and say “no”.
Crown prosecutor Gareth Harrison told the court: “It was without [the woman’s] consent and he knew she was not consenting.”
The court also heard that Correia told police during an interview: “I had a feeling she wanted it and that’s what the Tinder app is for.”
Doctors found evidence of intercourse and bruises on the woman’s body; Correia always insisted the sex was consensual.
Correia’s defense barrister Troy Anderson told the court that the sex was “at her instigation as much as it was his” and that “as far as he is concerned nothing has gone on that is odd”.
Judge Ian McClintock told the court: “As far as the state of NSW is concerned, Mr Correia is free to go”.
As Yahoo News reports, the 33-year-old was taken back to Villawood Detention Centre where he was being held since the expiration of his residency. Correia is expected to return to his come country Brazil.
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