A British man facing a rape retrial in Australia will be allowed to fly home while he awaits his court hearing as long as he pays a £102,000 deposit.
Scott Richardson is accused of raping an American woman while she slept at a property in the Redfern suburb of Sydney in December 2015.
He was originally found guilty of the sex attack, but that conviction was then quashed on appeal following a row over DNA evidence.
An Australian court has now taken the ‘very rare’ step of allowing the 26-year-old to leave the country while he awaits his retrial, provided the large sum of money is put down to ensure he returns.
Scott Richardson is facing a retrial for rape in Sydney over an alleged sex attack in 2015
Richardson, who has spent more than 21 months in prison, was said to be ‘relieved’ at the prospect of being released and his lawyer says he is looking forward to ‘the opportunity to clear his name’.
He appeared for the bail hearing at the Downing Centre court in Sydney by video link from Bathurst Correctional Complex today.
Wearing a dark green jumper and glasses, he thanked district court judge Helen Syme as she granted conditional bail.
Judge Syme said one of the conditions was that ‘two acceptable persons deposit a first amount of 130,000 dollars (£74,000) and the second amount of 50,000 dollars (£28,000)’.
Richardson is also prohibited from contacting the alleged victim or witnesses in the case.
His lawyer, Nick Hanna, said it was ‘very rare’ for a defendant to be allowed to reside outside the jurisdiction while on bail.
Mr Richardson was originally arrested over an allegation he raped a woman in the Redfern district of Sydney in December 2015
Mr Hanna told the Press Association: ‘He’s relieved to have had his conviction overturned and to have been granted bail and he looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name at the retrial next March.’
Richardson was found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent on December 13, 2016 after a trial.
He has been held in custody ever since, having been ordered serve at least two years and three months in prison.
Richardson saw his conviction for the alleged 2015 attack quashed after an appeal court heard new DNA evidence had come to light in July.
Appeal judges in New South Wales heard that DNA tests using a more advanced method than that used during his trial had found profiles of two men, rather than one.
Richardson’s retrial is due to take place next year.
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