TWO men were yesterday cleared of raping a 25-year-old woman after a judge described her evidence as implausible. The woman denied taking cocaine but traces of the drug were found in her body after she reported the alleged rape, the High Court heard. Mr Justice Duffy directed the jury to find Chau Cheuk-yin and Wong Yiu-lok, both 23, not guilty. The judge said the conflict between the woman's claim that she had not taken drugs and the medical evidence cast doubt on the rest of her story. Her evidence was 'inherently implausible', he said. Wong and another man, Cheng Kwok-hung, 20, still face a charge of theft in relation to the $12,000 cash, two rings and a bracelet that the woman claimed had been stolen from her. But prosecutor Robin Walters said the Crown would no longer be seeking convictions on this charge, bearing in mind the time the defendants had spent in custody awaiting trial. The case will resume today. The prosecution had alleged the woman was raped while incapable of resisting because she was under the influence of drink and drugs. She got into a taxi with the defendants after leaving a bar in Tsim Sha Tsui, where she had been drinking cocktails on September 29 last year. The woman claimed she thought she was going to be taken home. Mr Chau and Wong both denied raping the woman. They said she had consented to sex.
