A JURY has been discharged following a three-week rape trial.

Safaraz Khan had been standing trial alleged to have encouraged and assisted the rape of an 18-year-old student who had been out celebrating her A-Level results in Southampton.

But with the jury at Southampton Crown Court unable to return a verdict, Judge Gary Burrell QC discharged the jury.

The prosecution will now decide whether to pursue a retrial at a hearing in the court on Wednesday, April 18.

On Friday, the 20-year-old’s co-defendant Abdi Mohammed was found guilty of rape.

Mohammed, 21, picked up the girl from outside Oceana nightclub, in Leisure World and took her back to his friend Mr Khan’s home in Derby Road.

He then took the girl up into Khan’s parents’ bedroom and raped her.

In a poignant message following his conviction, the victim’s mother said: “There are no real winners.

“Love your enemies, forgive those who trespass against you.

"Pray for their souls.

"Judge in heaven is greater than on earth.

“There are lessons for everybody involved to learn.

"The responsibility of the club, of the friends, of bystanders, of the individual, drinking alcohol and security.”

During the trial, the court heard that Mohammed’s DNA was found on the victim.

After the incident, the victim said she ran barefoot from the house and sought help at the nearby Royal South Hants Hospital – where she told staff she had been raped.

In her evidence, the victim said she shouted ‘Don’t touch me, don’t rape me’ while Mohammed was on top of her in the upstairs bedroom.

Mohammed, of Tennyson Road, Portswood, will be sentenced on April 27 after he was remanded in custody following the verdict last week.