Asylum seeker found not guilty of raping a woman in Skegness
Jurors deliberated for more than seven and a half hours over three days
Last updated 13th Dec 2023
An asylum seeker has been found not guilty of raping a stranger in a seaside park six weeks after arriving in the UK from France.
Jurors deliberated for more than seven and a half hours over three days before clearing Saad Gomaa, a married father-of-one originally from Egypt, of attacking the woman on June 9th.
Prosecutors claimed Gomaa's alleged victim was too drunk to give consent when she met him in Tower Gardens in Skegness, Lincolnshire.
But Gomaa, 34, claimed the woman did not appear drunk, and had consented.
The trial heard last week that Gomaa arrived in Britain from France on April 28, after British authorities "saved" a boat carrying him and 70 other migrants.
He told jurors he spent two days in Dover before being driven by car to Skegness in the company of eight other migrants.
During the trial, jurors were told that while Gomaa had submitted an asylum claim, his immigration status was irrelevant to their consideration of the case.
Defence barrister Karen Walton said Gomaa, who was living at a hotel less than half a mile from the park, had a reasonable belief that the woman was not incapacitated through drink.
The defendant has been in custody since his arrest at a Skegness bar shortly after the incident, but was told he was free to go by Judge James House KC on Wednesday.
The judge said: "Mr Gomaa, you are discharged. Once the paperwork has been dealt with, that is the end of the matter.
"What happens with any other immigration matters after this is not a matter for the court."