Jury in alleged child rape trial failed to prevail

Nicholas James Glass, 31, pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and was tried this week before a jury and Judge Deborah Richards in the Hervey Bay District Court.

On Tuesday, the court heard evidence from the child’s grandmother, who was told of the alleged offence, as well as a school chaplain and an investigating police officer. The child’s recorded statement was due to be played to the jury in the afternoon.

On Thursday, after two days of testimony, the prosecution and defense made their closing arguments before the jury retired to deliberate on the verdict.

On Friday, the jury asked to watch the child’s recorded statement again.

However, no decision could be made on Friday afternoon as the jury did not reach a verdict and was dismissed.

This happened after a juror admitted to Googling Mr Glass’s name.

On Tuesday, Judge Richards said one of the jurors informed her that they had googled Mr Glass’s name before the trial began on Monday evening.

This happened before the jury was selected and impaneled on Tuesday and was instructed by Judge Richards not to conduct its own outside research during the trial.

Mr. Glass’s defense attorney said that after conducting his own Google search for Mr. Glass, he could not find anything in the search results that could influence the jury.

In his speech to the jury, Judge Richards explained what had happened and thanked the jurors for their “honesty.”

“Of course it would be better if you hadn’t done it, but you didn’t know, so there’s no changing it,” she said.

“If you could just remember not to Google anyone else during the process, that would be fine.

“But thank you for bringing this to our attention. That’s exactly your job.”

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