Jury unable to reach verdict over Gorsedd Gardens sexual assault
The jury has been discharged and Khalid Alahmadi is released on bail
A man who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in Gorsedd Gardens during Freshers’ Week has been discharged after the jury were unable to reach a verdict.
Khalid Alahmadi, 23, pleaded not guilty of sexually assaulting a student during Freshers’ Week in September while standing on trial at Newport Crown Court.
The jury have been discharged after they were unable to reach a verdict.
The attack was one of three sexual assaults that happened during one week in September 2015.
Earlier in the trial, in a video interview shown to the jury, the victim said: “I remember just suddenly feeling conscious and being pressed up against the tree.”
However, Alahmadi claimed the woman approached him first and looked like “she needed support.”
Following a week-long trial, the six men and six women making up the jury left on Friday afternoon to consider a verdict. After taking several hours to deliberate and struggling to reach a majority verdict, recorder Catherine Brown discharged the jury.
Alahmadi has been released on bail and is due to return on March 15th when a retrial will be considered.