Jurors begin deliberations in Katie Price’s ex-husband child rape trial
Kieran Hayler is on trial at Lewes Crown Court.
Jurors have begun deliberating in the trial of Katie Price’s ex-husband, who is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.
Kieran Hayler is on trial at Lewes Crown Court accused of three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault of the teenager in West Sussex in 2016.
The 39-year-old also faces an alternative four counts of sexual activity with a child if the jury instead believes there was consent between them.
Judge Mark van der Zwart sent out of the jury, made up of six women and five men, to begin their deliberations on Tuesday afternoon.
In closing speeches on Monday, prosecutor Ryan Richter said: “You’ve seen the big personalities, the big egos in this case and you’ll judge it, you’ll cut through it.
“You’ll decide whether those big voices drown out the voice of (the complainant) or whether that voice has made you sure on the counts of this indictment.”
Defence barrister Arlette Piercy said in her closing speech that Hayler has been consistent and clear throughout his defence, in what has been a “roller coaster ride for everybody in this court”.
She called for the jury to take care, be calm and rational, warning “emotion is enemy of reason”.