Consent will be a key issue in deciding whether Bafta-winning actor Micheal Ward raped a woman in the back of a car, a jury has been told. Ward, whose breakout role was in the Channel 4/Netflix drama series Top Boy, is standing trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court accused of raping the woman after meeting her at a nightclub in east London.
Prosecution and Defence Arguments
He thought only about “his own pleasure come what may” and the alleged victim felt “pressured”, according to the prosecution in closing speeches on Wednesday. Ward’s defence lawyers said: “Two young people who are attracted to each other engaged in physical contact which Micheal Ward at all times believed to be consensual.”
Ward, 28, of Silvertown, east London, denies two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault on January 2 2023.
Judge's Directions
Judge Rosa Dean, in her jury directions, said: “This is a case where two young people had sex in the back of a car and your job is to decide if there was consent.” She said the jury would also need to consider whether there was a reasonable belief of consent in the circumstances. The prosecution suggests Ward “did not care less” but the defence says “all her actions suggest she was consenting”.
Background of the Incident
The woman claims she was assaulted after Ward hosted a New Year party in Gants Hill, east London, after he spent Christmas with his family. The party took place during a pause in his work schedule, before a soon-to-be released film. The court heard the pair kissed and hugged in a Mercedes outside the party, and later had an intimate encounter in another Mercedes outside an after-party event.
The woman “does not deny that what happened in the first car was consensual”, prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told the jury in her closing speech. Noting that the woman admitted she thought Ward was “attractive”, Ms Ayling added: “If she has not been raped, would it not be more of a feather in her cap? What would make her say she was raped? If it was to ruin his career, there is no evidence that was the motivation.”
Prosecution's Closing Remarks
Ms Ayling told the jury: “The crown’s case is that she told the absolute truth in 2023. You need to take great care not to be judgmental or stereotyped when you come to your conclusions.” She described Ward’s physical contact with the woman he had just met as “risky and aggressive”, and added: “Did Mr Ward actually think anything about her at all or did he think about his own pleasure come what may?” He wanted “quick sex in the back of the car” with a “woman he fancied that night”, according to the prosecutor.
Defence's Closing Remarks
Defence counsel Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC said: “The woman has bluntly not been consistent and has told a series of lies that go to the heart of this matter. She has told them to the police and she has told them to you.” It took 18 months from her original interview with police before the woman reported having deleted parts of messages with Ward, and it came as her friends were being asked for screenshots of the chats they had, the court heard.
The woman said she had blood on her clothing, but tests found nothing and she “flipped one way and then the other” about whether there had been flirting, the KC said. Ms Bennett-Jenkins told the jury: “There are three at the very least significant areas where the woman can be demonstrated not to have told the truth. Is that a witness upon who you can rely? I suggest not.”
Ward's Career and Character Witnesses
Ward won the Bafta rising star award in 2020 and was nominated for the best supporting actor award for his role in BBC’s Small Axe in 2021 and the 2022 film Empire Of Light. He also appeared in the American film Eddington alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal, which was released last August. A series of character witnesses, including his ex-girlfriend, a talent agent and a Top Boy co-star, who know him at a “granular level”, say he is “honest and trustworthy”.
After the alleged assaults, the woman walked to her friend’s car and Ward messaged her a “teary-eyed emoji and a heart emoji” and she replied by telling him to “enjoy the rest of his evening”. Ms Bennett-Jenkins said “that is not a man who is hell bent on getting his own way”, adding that he asked her to message him when she arrived home safely. The lawyer added: “He is a young man who acts in films. He is not someone who found it easy to talk about real experiences, his real life, and to lay bare his experiences in front of you.”
The trial continues.
