The most sensational South African trial since the end of apartheid ended today with defence demands for former deputy president Jacob Zuma to be acquitted of “highly improbable” charges that he raped an HIV-positive family friend.

South Africa’s most politically explosive trial since the end of apartheid neared its conclusion today, with the prosecution describing would-be president Jacob Zuma’s claim that he had consensual sex with his rape accuser as “fanciful".