as a witness. Yet her credibility was not a significant issue at this trial. Her testimony essentially established only that she was the victim of several criminal offenses. The primary defense was not that the witness was not in fact a victim, but that defendant was not the perpetrator. The witness never purported to identify defendant as her assailant. The state sought to establish this identity by other evidence.
Defendant next assigns as error the denial of his motion to dismiss the charge of rape for insufficiency of the evidence. In support of this assignment, he argues that there was no direct identification evidence and that other circumstantial evidence was insufficient to identify him as the culprit. We disagree.
"A motion to nonsuit in a criminal case requires consideration ofand some paperback books. Within minutes of the alleged incident defendant was discovered three and one-half blocks away dressed substantially as Ms. Young had described her assailant. Found in his possession were several objects matching the description of objects missing from Ms. Young's apartment, including two objects which she specifically identified as belonging to her. Assuming the state's evidence to be true, we hold it ample to survive defendant's motion to dismiss.
Defendant next contends the trial court erred in charging the jury on the doctrine of recent possession as it related to the rape charge. The trial court's instructions to the jury on circumstantial evidence included the following challenged instruction:
"Further, members of the jury, the State of North Carolina seeks to establish the defendant Howard Matthew Joyner's guilt,