Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Otis Nkiwane

 

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

5 years

Years Imprisoned:

3

Year Crime:

2003

Year Convicted:

2004

Year Cleared:

2011

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

United Kingdom

County or Region of Crime:

England

City of Crime:

Luton

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Otis Nkiwane was wrongly convicted in July 2004 of raping a woman at a Christmas party in 2003 in Luton, England. Nkiwane's prosecution was based on the testimony of the alleged victim. Nkiwane was a native of Zambia, and his defense was he had consensual sex with the woman, and that he and the woman had first engaged in consensual oral sex with three other women at the party. After his conviction by a jury Nkiwane was sentenced to five years in prison. Nkiwane's case was referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission to the Court of Appeal based on the CCRC's investigation that found the fresh evidence that two of the women Nkiwane engaged in consensual sex with corroborated his account. The prosecution conceeded that Nkiwane wouldn't have been prosecuted if the women's statements had been available at the time of his trial. Without opposition by the Crown Prosecution Service, the Court of Appeal quashed Nkiwane's conviction in 2011, stating that: "There was a 'substantial body of credible evidence' that might have resulted in a jury deciding that Mr Nkiwane was not guilty." Nkiwane's claim for compensation was denied in June 2012 by the UK's Ministry of Justice on the basis that it had not been shown beyond reasonable doubt that he "could not possibly have been convicted." Nkiwane appealed, and in October 2015 the High Court affirmed the denial of compensation in stating: "In my view it is clear that the decision to refuse the claim for compensation was not vitiated by any public law error, and thus was not unlawful on public law grounds, On the contrary, the decision was based on a correct understanding of both the law and the facts, and was neither irrational nor unreasonable.""

Conviction Caused By:

Perjury by the alleged victim.

Innocence Proved By:

"In 2011 the Court of Appeal quashed Nkiwane's conviction stating that: "There was a 'substantial body of credible evidence' that might have resulted in a jury deciding that Mr Nkiwane was not guilty.""

Defendant Aided By:

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Compensation Awarded:

Denied in Oct. 2015

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

26

Age When Released:

29

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"Bedford man wrongly convicted of rape at Luton party denied compensation by government, By Staff writer, Luton On Sunday (Luton, England), October 26, 2015"

Information Location 1:

http://www.luton-dunstable.co.uk/Bedford-man-wrongly-convicted-rape-Luton-party/story-28055650-detail/story.html

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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