Farmer’s guilty verdict in British backpacker rape case quashed over ‘miscarriage of justice’

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A farmer who was found guilty of raping a British backpacker will face a fresh trial after Queensland’s highest court overturned his conviction, ruling his first trial was marred by a miscarriage of justice.

In a decision handed down on Friday, the Queensland Court of Appeal set aside Wayne Robert Green’s convictions for procuring a sexual act by intimidation and rape, ordering a new trial on both charges.

The ruling comes more than a year after a Kingaroy District Court jury found the Mondure farmer guilty on two counts following allegations from a backpacker who worked on his property.

Green, 54, had pleaded not guilty to all charges but was jailed for more than three years in May 2024.

Prosecutors claimed the woman, who had just $4 to her name and needed to complete 88 days of farm work to extend her visa, was offered money or the chance to keep her job in exchange for sex.

The Kingaroy District Court was told she feared losing her visa and being left stranded in Australia if she refused.

It was alleged that Green sexually assaulted and raped her on separate occasions, including one incident where he was said to have been naked, aggressive, and pushing her head down during oral sex.

The woman told the court she felt she had “no choice,” while the defence argued her accounts were inconsistent, that her diary entries suggested she was relaxed during her stay, and that no forensic evidence supported the claims.

Justices John Bond and Robert Gotterson found his trial had been compromised by a comment made by the trial judge during the summing-up to the jury.

The judge had remarked that if the complainant “actually” believed she would lose her job if she did not perform sex acts, then her behaviour would have been different to what she reported.

The appeal court found this rhetorical comment undermined the jury’s impartiality, stating it was “not a neutral statement” and may have influenced jurors toward a guilty verdict.

The court also criticised the handling of the complainant’s evidence, which was given via video link from the United Kingdom.

Repeated technical failures and delays left the complainant “tired” and “really stressed” during questioning, potentially affecting her credibility in the eyes of the jury.

The justices said measures should have been taken to improve the process and address her fatigue to ensure fairness.

On the count of procuring a sexual act by intimidation, the court found the evidence, particularly around the complainant’s visa and employment situation, was not capable of proving intimidation as legally defined under Queensland’s Criminal Code.

The combined effect of the judicial comment, the video link problems, and the evidence issues meant the trial was unfair.

Mr Green will now face a new trial on the two charges. He had been acquitted on a third charge at his original hearing.

At sentencing, Judge Glen Cash said Green, a father of three, was “aware of her circumstances” that the victim had no money and a desire to stay in Australia on her visa.

He will now return to court at a later date for the charges to be tried again.