Daniel Monie found not guilty in ACT Supreme Court of Grindr date rape

Daniel William Monie didn't wait long to find out ACT Supreme Court jurors cleared him of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent on Thursday.

Mr Monie broke down into tears following the verdicts, before being allowed to return to the public gallery when he hugged visibly emotional supporters.

The alleged incident took place in December 2021, when another man came to Mr Monie's home after speaking on LGBTQIA+ dating app Grindr.

Parties disagreed about the "critical issue of consent" relating to alleged single acts of penile-anal and digital rape, which the complainant previously told the court he had never wanted to engage in.

Defence barrister Matthew Johnston SC had argued there was no "clarity of communication" about those sexual boundaries.

Mr Johnston said his client asking, "do you want me?", to which the complainant allegedly responded, "yes", was an appropriate enquiry for consent before one of the acts in question.

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"You might well think those words alone in that context were sufficient to show there was consent," Mr Johnston said.

"It's disputed there was any clear rejection of penetrative sex."

Prosecutor Skye Jerome had told jurors that, on the contrary, there had been "no miscommunication" and "no ambiguity" regarding the complainant's physical boundaries.

"[The alleged victim] was clear in communication he did not consent to anal penetration," she said.

Ms Jerome pointed to evidence like the complainant saying "not now, not keen", during a physical prompting for penetrative sex, and that the man had verbally rejected the idea during conversation.

It was also said the complainant physically rejected a previous attempt of such an act.

"Thank you, your honour," Mr Monie said through tears to Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson as he left his seat.

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