Christian Maxwell Jackson stands trial for Surf Coast rapes in County Court of Victoria

A man accused of three counts of rape in a Surf Coast town and multiple assaults, including strangling his alleged victim, is standing trial in the County Court of Victoria.

Christian Jackson is standing trial for the alleged rape and assualt of a woman on the Surf Coast.

A man accused of three counts of rape in a Surf Coast town and multiple assaults, including strangling his alleged victim, is standing trial in the County Court of Victoria.

Christian Maxwell Jackson stands accused of raping a woman three times on separate occasions between January 1, 2016 and December 30, 2018.

Crown prosecutors will also allege he strangled his alleged victim on a bed and in a car in the same time period.

He is also accused of assault by kicking the woman in March, 2014.

Several witnesses in the jury trial were called to the stand on Monday to give testimony, including a friend of the complainant.

She recounted one of the alleged assaults sometime between December 2015 and January 2016.

The jury of eight men and four women heard how Mr Jackson degraded his alleged victim during a social gathering, according to the witness.

She told the court she would later hear a “blood curdling” scream coming from a bedroom, and witnessed the accused allegedly on top of the complainant as she lay on a bed.

Christian Jackson.

“He was grabbing at her, holding her with one hand and trying to take the phone with the other,” she said.

The accused then took the phone and “crushed it” on the floor, the witness said.

Mr Jackson’s defence counsel, Ian Hill KC, questioned the witness on whether the alleged victim had approached her to make a statement to police to support her claims.

He told the court she told police the incident occurred in 2017 when making her first statement at a Geelong police station in August 2020.

She made a second statement on March 30, 2021 where she corrected the time frame of the alleged offence.

“It wasn’t until Detective Evans queried the date with you that you had this recollection that you got it wrong,” Mr Hill asked.

The witness replied “correct”.

In a separate incident, another witness told the court the complainant told her that “Christian put his arms around my neck”, motioning with two hands around her throat for jurors.

He is charged with three counts of rape, six counts of common law assault and one count of intentionally damaging property.

The trial continues before Judge Frances Hogan.

Originally published as Christian Maxwell Jackson stands trial for Surf Coast rapes in County Court of Victoria