This, like many sexual assault cases, boiled down to a he said, he said argument. And like many sexual assault cases, the verdict comes down to how the jurors interpreted the evidence they were presented. As you say, the jurors will be instructed to follow the evidence, but in many cases of this nature, that amounts to personal testimonies of the individuals concerned, and I think, though IANAL character witnesses.
Using the word absolved was perhaps sloppy language on my part, he’s been found not guilty of the charges based on the accusations made. Which in most peoples minds clears him of any wrong doing. As I said earlier though, there will have been an unbalanced power dynamic at play and thus consent will, in the heat of the moment, likely to have been a bit ‘frilly around the edges’
