An Mdantsane man who was jailed for eight years for rape walked out of St Alban’s Prison in Port Elizabeth recently after spending two years inside for a crime he did not commit.

The rape conviction ended 27-year-old Osiphesona Ngcanga’s life as an assistant lecturer of law at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and as a maritime law master's student.

He was found guilty by Port Elizabeth magistrate Nolitha Bara of raping a “drunk and unconscious” commerce student at a 21st birthday party on February 11 2017 in Kabega Park, Port Elizabeth..

But on January 14, Makhanda High Court judges Sunil Rugunanan and Buyiswa Majiki upheld his appeal and overturned Bara’s judgment.

The judges found Bara had applied a “misdirected approach”.

In their judgment, they said Ngcanga and the woman had been seen by one of six witnesses dancing together, laughing, flirting, kissing and talking to each other outside a party attended by 17 people, many of them students.

Alcohol was consumed at the event.

One witness said the woman’s friends had disapproved and kept calling her back into the house, but she had repeatedly returned to Ngcanga of her own accord, the judges found.

It was alleged the victim was raped while sleeping in a car outside the party venue.