Sydney: Prosecutors in New South Wales, Australia, dropped charges of rape against a man accused of raping his wife after finding out that he had been suffering from 'sexsomnia'.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, the man was charged with five counts of rape and indecent assault, three in 2008 and two in December 2011. Charges were filed against him after his wife, who is still with him, reported the incidents after the 2011 incident.
In December 2011, the couple was sleeping one night when the wife woke up to find her husband having sex with her and his hand was around her throat, as he called her a “slut”. However, he had no recollection of the incident.
Prosecutors decided to drop the rape charges after the husband's attorney told a district court that the man claimed a defence of “sane automatism”.
District Court Judge John Hatzistergos said it would be unreasonable to continue with the prosecution.
Charges were dropped after sleep expert Dr Dev Banerjee, who was consulted by the prosecutors, filed a report, stating that he “could not rule out” sleep sex.
