Jury told Telford soldier rape claim does not add up
Rape allegations against a 25-year-old Telford soldier do not stack up, a court has been told.
Kristopher O'Neil, of Heath Road, Wellington, began his Army training in Catterick on September 23, 2007, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard yesterday.
But Mr Graham Henderson, defending, told jurors that the alleged victim said her attacker had told her he was already in the Army when she was raped.
O'Neil, who has served in Afghanistan, denies raping the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, between June and September 2007 at her home in Telford.
In his closing speech to jurors, Mr Henderson said his client insists he has never heard of the alleged victim and that an alleged sexual encounter, let alone a rape, never happened.
He said: "The prosecution case is, with the greatest respect, all over the place, and you are being asked to convict this young man of rape."
The alleged victim said the incident happened in July 2007 but it was only reported to police in July 2010. Previously, the trial heard O'Neil was picked out of a video identity parade by the alleged victim in 2011.
The trial continues.
