Roman Peter Galaska pleads not guilty in Cairns District Court to two counts of sexual assault

A taxi driver who gave a woman a lift home from Cairns Hospital allegedly sexually assaulted her twice, a Cairns Court has heard.

Roman Peter Galaska has pleaded not guilty to the charges arising from an alleged incident at Mooroobool on April 4, 2022.

A Cairns taxi driver on trial for two counts of sexual assault asked his passenger if she would like him to “jump in the back and entertain her for an hour or two”, Cairns District Court heard on Tuesday.

Roman Peter Galaska has pleaded not guilty to the charges arising from an alleged incident at Mooroobool on April 4, 2022.

Crown prosecutor Seamus McManus said Mr Galaska opened the rear door of the taxi at the end of the trip and tried to kiss her on the lips, but she turned her head away and the kiss landed on her cheek, and that he hugged her and touched her breast.

The jury was played CCTV video of the trip, when Mr Galaska picked up the woman from Cairns Hospital in the early hours of the morning and initially chatted with her about long wait times to be seen at the hospital.

“At least they saw you, so hopefully things will get better,” Mr Galaska said.

He asked the woman if she was married and she said “no, I am single, actually”.

“I didn’t mean to ask in that manner,” he said jovially.

“How did you go through school with a surname like that … people have unfortunate surnames, don’t they,” Mr Galaska said, suggesting her parents could have changed the family name by deed poll.

“That’s okay, there are worse ones,” the woman said, and Mr Galaska said he didn’t mean to have a joke at her expense.

The Cairns Hospital. Picture: Brendan Radke

“I’ve gotten over it,” the quietly-spoken woman said.

Mr Galaska then chatted about parents naming children unfortunate names when combined with their surnames and he noted the time.

“We could drive for a couple of hours, go parking or something … jump in the back and keep ourselves occupied for an hour or so,” he suggested.

“Everyone’s asleep, you don’t have to really wake them up, do you,” he said, and the woman explained that the way the door locked meant she had to get one of her siblings to open it.

Mr Galaska then rejected another fare and offered “so I can sit and chat with you a while”.

The woman responded it was okay as her brother was up and waiting for her, which Mr McManus said was a lie because she felt increasingly uncomfortable.

He then jumped out and opened the rear door for her, the pair are seen outside the taxi for several seconds, and Mr Galaska gets back in and sighs.

Mr McManus said the woman went to her room and cried.

Her sister gave evidence the driver made her feel uncomfortable.

“And when she arrived at our address he blocked her from going inside and tried to hug her, kiss her, generally pretty touchy with her, and he said to go for a drive,” she said.

“She looked distressed, I asked her what was wrong, she had a nervous energy about her, you could tell she was very distracted,” she said.

The trial before Judge Tracy Fantin continues.

Originally published as Roman Peter Galaska pleads not guilty in Cairns District Court to two counts of sexual assault