The rape conviction of Sydney man Luke Lazarus has been quashed and a retrial ordered after the state's highest court upheld his claim that the judge in his trial misdirected the jury.
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Mr Lazarus, 24, had spent 11 months in jail over the rape of a woman in an alley behind a Sydney nightclub but was released in February after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal granted him bail with a $50,000 surety pending the outcome of the appeal.
At that point the court left open the possibility of an acquittal but on Tuesday the three-judge appeal panel ordered a retrial.
Outside court Mr Lazarus said: "I'm looking forward to a retrial and I'm excited to clear my name in the future."
His lawyers will apply to the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday to have his bail conditions varied.
He is currently reporting to Rose Bay Police Station three times a week and is not allowed to travel beyond Sydney. He is also not allowed to apply for a passport.
Mr Lazarus was convicted by a jury in February last year over the sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman in an alleyway behind the Soho Nightclub on Victoria Street in Potts Point - a club owned by his family.
Police alleged that, on the night in question, in May 2013, Lazarus approached his victim on the dance floor introducing himself as a part owner of the venue.
He then allegedly offered to introduce her to the DJ before saying instead they would go into a VIP area.
But he then allegedly took the woman to the laneway where he allegedly raped her before demanding she put her name in his phone.
A string of prominent people, including Waverley mayor Sally Betts, the honorary secretary of the Honorary Consulate-General of Greece in Brisbane, Tsambico K Athanasas and South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club chairman Nick Pappas had provided references for Lazarus, unanimously declaring their shock at his conviction and vouching for his good character.
The court upheld Lazarus' argument, made by Tim Game, SC, that District Court Judge Sarah Huggett misdirected the jury before they retired to consider their verdict on the issue of whether Lazarus believed the woman had consented to sex or not.
Judge Huggett had told the jury that it needed to decide whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that the woman had consented to having sex with Lazarus.
This direction was inconsistent with the law, Mr Game said.
Instead, the jury should have been told that they needed to decide whether the accused in fact had a "reasonable belief" at the time of the incident that the young woman had consented to sex.
Justice Clifton Hoeben, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton and Justice Michael Adams unanimously agreed the conviction should be quashed and a retrial ordered.
