The family of an ADFA cadet acquitted of rape will make a complaint to the ACT government after they say he was prosecuted in the face of "overwhelming evidence" the woman had lied.
A jury found Jack Toby Mitchell, 19, not guilty on Wednesday of raping a fellow cadet in his room in the early hours of May 28, 2016.
It took the jury just over an hour to return the unanimous verdict.
Outside court the man, a former captain at his regional Victorian high school, faced the media as his father read a statement on his behalf.
The statement said the last year had been the worst of his life.
"I'm very relieved this ordeal is over, but I'm also angry that it had to come this far when the evidence clearly showed that the allegation made against me was totally false.
"Not only did the prosecution continue to run this case when it was clear the complainant was not telling the truth, but they only agreed to disclose crucial evidence to my lawyers after they threatened to have the trial stopped for unfairness."
The evidence Mr Mitchell referred to was data, including messages, downloaded from the phones of the woman and a mutual friend.
The information was provided to the defence Monday last week, the day the trial was to start. The start was then pushed back to Tuesday for the defence to consider the new material.
Mr Mitchell's father Russell continued with a statement on behalf of he and his wife Michelle, who both sat through the trial. He said they were "immensely proud of Jack".
He said they intended to make a formal complaint to the ACT Attorney-General "about the conduct of the police and the prosecution" in handling his son's case.
The court heard the two 18-year-olds had been messaging for several weeks prior to the alleged incident, and had kissed one evening after a run to the top of Mt Pleasant. They returned to his room early one Saturday morning after a night at Civic bar Mooseheads.
It was alleged she was heavily intoxicated that morning and woke to Mr Mitchell having sex with her. It was further alleged when she tried to push him away he had continued. He told police when arrested a week later the sex was consensual, and that when he asked her if it was okay she said yes and kissed him.
They were two different accounts of the night that the man's defence barrister Steven Whybrow described as "chalk and cheese".
In closing arguments earlier on Wednesday, Mr Whybrow said the woman had lied about being attracted to Mr Mitchell when many of her friends told the court she liked him. She also lied to other cadets, he said, telling one who was making sure she was back on base by midnight curfew that she was in Mr Mitchell's room when she was still at Mooseheads on the night of May 27.
He cautioned the jury that he was not suggesting that, because she liked Mr Mitchell and had been flirting with him for weeks leading up to the incident, that meant she consented to sex that morning.
"None of that implies consent in his room," he said.
Instead, he said, her lies on oath would give the jury considerable pause on accepting what she said had happened in that room.
"The difficulty is she's told so many fibs about so many things," he said, "that you could not believe that's what happened."
Presiding judge John Burns reminded the jury it was the Crown's onus to prove the elements of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt.
He instructed that in reality they only had one issue to decide. "Are you satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant did not consent to sexual intercourse with the accused?" he said.
In acquitting the man the jury determined there was reasonable doubt.
Outside court Mr Whybrow declined to comment, save for a short statement: "There's something to be said for the jury system."
Mr Mitchell's first act after the verdict was delivered was to hug his defence solicitor Adrian McKenna of Ben Aulich and Associates and Mr Whybrow. Not present on Wednesday was barrister Prue Bindon, who completed the man's trial defence team.
Justice Burns thanked the jury on behalf of the community for what is never an easy task, and discharged them from their duty.
He also sent Mr Mitchell home.
"The accused is discharged."
JACK MITCHELL'S FULL STATEMENT:
The last twelve months has been the worst year of my life. I'm very relieved this ordeal is over, but I'm also angry that it had to come this far when the evidence clearly showed that the allegation made against me was totally false.
Not only did the prosecution continue to run this case when it was clear the complainant was not telling the truth, but they only agreed to disclose crucial evidence to my lawyers after they threatened to have the trial stopped for unfairness.
My lawyers wrote to the DPP last October pointing out all the flaws in this case but they refused to stop the prosecution.
It is difficult for me not to believe the police and prosecution deliberately tried to suppress evidence that helped to prove my innocence.
I would like to thank my friends and colleagues who continued to support me throughout this difficult time and always believed me when I said I would never behave in the way alleged.
I would like to thank my lawyers for their commitment and passion in defending me and for fighting the DPP to make them hand over the crucial evidence they refused to disclose.
I would especially like to thank ADFA for the support it has given me in the last year. Although I was removed from ADFA the day I was arrested and prevented from continuing my military training in Canberra, I completely understand that in the circumstances I could not continue to stay at ADFA with the complainant until this case was over.
ADFA could have just assumed I was guilty, kicked me out and moved on. I'm grateful that the defence force allowed me the presumption of innocence and took steps to allow me to continue my studies remotely until this court process was concluded.
I'm looking froward to resuming my ADFA training as soon as possible and trying to make up for the year of my life I have lost and can never get back.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents and other family who have never doubted me and without whose love and support and financial assistance I would not have had the strength or means to properly defend myself from this false allegation.
RUSSELL AND MICHELLE MITCHELL'S FULL STATEMENT:
We'd like to say we are immensely proud of Jack and the way he has handled this terrible ordeal.
We have raised our son to have respect for women and the evidence clearly showed he only ever treated this woman with dignity and respect.
Sexual assault and the mistreatment of women is a terrible problem in our society. It does nothing to help those genuine victims of sexual assault for the authorities to waste valuable resources running hopeless cases like this.
We intend to make a formal complaint to the Attorney-General about the conduct of the police and the prosecution in continuing this prosecution in the face of overwhelming evidence that the complainant was not telling the truth, and for refusing to disclose evidence that helped to prove she was lying until they were forced to do so.