An Irish nurse jailed for raping another woman in the toilets of a Brisbane hotel is to have all rape charges against her dropped, according to reports in the Australian media.
Earlier this month, Anne-Marie O’Loughlin (26), from Edenderry, Co Offaly, was granted conditional bail after Queensland’s court of appeal granted her a new trial.
Ms O’Loughlin was convicted last December on two counts of digital rape and one of deprivation of liberty at the Caxton Hotel, Brisbane, on November 29th, 2009.
According to the Courier-Mail website, however, allegations of sexual offences at the hotel on November 29th, 2009, had now been "formally withdrawn".
Quoting sources, the newspaper reported the female complainant (34), who cannot be identified, has formally withdrawn her complaint and that prosecutors are expected to formally enter a “nolle prosequi” in the Brisbane District Court tomorrow.
Following a five-day trial in December, the district court jury took 13 hours to convict Ms O’Loughlin, who had been working in Australia as a registered nurse. She was found not guilty of a fourth charge of sexual assault. She was sentenced to 2½ years in jail.
Ms O’Loughlin’s appeal to her conviction was on the grounds the verdicts were unsafe and unsatisfactory and that the judge misdirected the jury on a key issue.