R v ZHX (historic marital rape, deaf defendant)

Facts

The appellant, a man in his 60s who is profoundly deaf, communicates only through British Sign Language and is unable to read, was convicted at Lewes Crown Court on 28 November 2025, following a trial before His Honour Judge Stephen Mooney, of a single count of rape committed against his now ex-wife on a date between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1995. The offence took place in a service station public toilet and was witnessed by a woman, Sarah Fosh, who, having heard what was happening, looked over the cubicle wall and saw the appellant raping the complainant from behind; the noise she made caused him to stop. His defence at trial was that the intercourse had been consensual, and the jury rejected it. On 30 January 2026 the same judge sentenced him to four years' imprisonment, with 32 days to count towards sentence, treating the offence as falling within category B for culpability and category 3 for harm under the Sentencing Council's Guideline on Rape. Counsel's subsequent application to the judge to amend the sentence under the slip rule, so as to reflect the two-thirds release point, was dismissed on paper. The appellant appealed against sentence with the leave of the single judge.