Adrian Pop v R

Facts

Early in the morning of 17 August 2024, Dariush Hashemi attempted to rape a woman referred to as "LV" in a hotel car park in Wembley. LV was heavily inebriated — urine tests suggested roughly twice the drink-drive limit — and had been in the appellant's company earlier in the evening. Hashemi began touching LV over her clothes, then put his fingers inside her shorts and touched her breasts. The appellant approached Hashemi, asked if he could watch, and observed from about three metres, at one point gesturing encouragement to Hashemi to penetrate LV digitally. When asked, he helped Hashemi pull down LV's underwear and turn her onto her back, and slapped her exposed buttocks; by then LV was unconscious. Hashemi exposed his erect penis and lay on top of her before a taxi driver, Gassan Ahmed, intervened and flagged down passing police, who found LV unconscious and exposed. LV never took part in the prosecution. Neither man gave evidence at trial. In the Crown Court at Harrow before HHJ Kinch, Hashemi was convicted of attempted rape and two counts of sexual assault; the appellant was convicted of attempted rape as an aider, abettor and encourager, and of sexual assault by slapping LV's buttocks. He appealed against the attempted rape conviction, challenging the judge's directions on mens rea.