consider this allegation first, before assessing the alleged violations of
Articles 3(2) and 5 of the Charter.
A. Alleged violation of the right to have one’s cause heard
46. The Court observes, from the record, that the Applicant raises two
grievances against the domestic courts whose actions or omissions he
claims violated his rights. These grievances are:
i.
That the trial court and appellate courts erred in law and in fact to convict
the Applicant based on improbable and implausible evidence of a single
witness and other contradictory and inconsistent evidence.
ii.
That the trial court and appellate courts erred in law and in fact in failing
to consider the evidence in his defence.
47. The Court will proceed to examine these two grievances in light of Article
7(1) of the Charter.
i.
Allegation relating to the evidence upon which the conviction was based
48. The Applicant alleges that the Respondent State’s courts erred in convicting
him based on the evidence of a single witness. Firstly, the Applicant
contends that the claim of the victim that she was with him on the date and
at the scene of the incident is improbable, as there were no other witnesses
who were called to testify in the trial court to corroborate her claim.
According to the Applicant, it is usual for a hotel to have several people,
including servants and guards. The fact that the court acted upon a
statement of the hotel manager that confirmed the victim’s statement was
an error.
49. The Applicant further argues that the evidence of the victim was not credible
as the victim alleged that she was a virgin prior to the rape and that she
was bleeding after the rape. However, this point was not corroborated by
the testimony of witness PW2, who is the mother of the victim, nor by
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