Prosecutors drop charges against four men accused of raping two women in Hindley Street car park

Charges against a group of men accused of raping two women in the stairwell of an Adelaide car park last year have been dropped.

A 21-year-old man from Gilberton, a 21-year-old man of no fixed address, a 24-year-old Kensington man, a 22-year-old man from Clearview and two youths aged 16 and 17 were charged with raping two women , aged 18 and 19, in a Hindley Street car park in the early hours of December 4, 2022.

The Clearview man was also charged with inducing a witness to withhold evidence.

Another youth was charged with inducing a witness to withhold evidence, but not rape.

Today the prosecution dropped the charges against the four adults, telling the Adelaide Magistrates Court the Director of Public Prosecutions had made no charge determination for the cases and asked for the matters to be discontinued.

It comes after defence lawyers raised a video or sequence of videos that supposedly captured parts of the alleged offending.

During a previous court hearing, defence lawyers argued the videos presented a different version of events and provided “some serious questions about the lack of consent”. 

The men all attended the brief court hearing today with their lawyers.

The 24-year-old Kensington man spoke outside of court, and said he was relieved the charges had been dropped. 

“It’s been an overwhelming couple of months – but thank God,” he said.

His lawyer Jason Evitts said his client had suffered enormous shame.

“The stigma of this type of charge will live with him unfortunately – but he can hold his head up high, with the charges being withdrawn by the prosecution,” he said.

When asked about the case during a press conference on a different matter, Police Minister Joe Szakacs said he had been informed the charges had been dropped.

“The prosecution has not been proceeded with due to the likelihood of a successful outcome for the office of the DPP, that’s the extent of my briefing on this,” he said. 

“This matter has not been acquitted, this has been a matter that hasn’t been proceeded with from the office of the DPP.” 

Charges against the three youths were dropped during a hearing in Adelaide’s Youth Court this afternoon.