Hayden Carl Skinner Coffs Harbour aged care rape court trial latest
A man accused of raping an elderly aged care resident testified that the alleged victim grabbed him by the genitals and wrapped her legs around his waist after she caught him inside her room.
A man accused of raping an elderly aged care resident testified that the alleged victim grabbed him by the genitals and wrapped her legs around his waist after she caught him inside her room.
Hayden Carl Skinner is on trial charged with aggravated sexual intercourse without consent during a break and entry with intent in the early hours of January 1, 2024 at a Coffs Harbour aged care home.
The judge alone trial began on Monday last week and Skinner has pleaded not guilty with his defence lawyer saying he was “simply” there looking for valuables to pay a drug debt.
Skinner has claimed in court that he entered the facility on Azalea Avenue, not far from the Coffs Harbour CBD, looking for items to pay a drug debt after he was threatened to pay up or he would be assaulted.
He used a chair to get inside the facility and entered the alleged victim’s room through an unlocked door, the court heard.
When Skinner took the witness stand on Monday he told the court the woman woke when he entered the room and a scuffle took place during which she “grabbed me by the genitals”.
He said he froze when he saw the blanket moving and when the elderly woman realised he was there she said “what the hell do you think you are doing here?” he told the court.
The woman then “used her body weight as leverage to try to stop me getting away” and then, he claimed, he grabbed her as he was concerned she was going to fall.
He told the court that at one point she grabbed his hair and “had her legs up around my waist”.
In summing up the Crown told the court these claims “a frail 76-year-old was the aggressor” and “fighting like a tiger” could not be believed.
The court heard Skinner’s claims that “he was having trouble extricating himself” from her grip could not be considered a truthful account and reminded the court that the woman had bruises on her inner thigh and Skinner’s DNA was found on her labia and under her fingernails.
Last week the trial, before Judge Michael McHugh, heard from the registered nurse on duty that night.
The nurse was first alerted to the alleged incident when he heard the buzzer activated from the woman’s room and heard a “very frantic scream”.
When he responded he saw her in the hallway trying to get into a nearby friend’s room and saw her “only wearing a top with nothing under the waist”, the court heard.
When asked by the Crown lawyer what the woman said to him he responded:
“We have a good relationship. She ran towards my direction and grabbed my arm and she told me there was a man who came inside the room and raped her.”
The nurse also said that she “gave a description of the person wearing a stocking over his head with a hoodie over the top” and that he was a “big tall black man, well built” and had positioned her across the bed, put his hand over her mouth and tried to push her hand away from the buzzer.
Upon further questioning from the Crown, the nurse also told the court the woman said to him “he couldn’t get it in, because of my prolapse” and that was when she realised her sliding door was open she said “I forgot to lock the door, It’s my fault, I am very sorry.”
The woman’s son also gave evidence telling the court his mother kept saying her alleged attacker was “clean” - “she kept saying that”.
It was also heard the alleged victim was a retired nurse who had entered the aged care facility due to poor physical health and not cognitive ill-health; but that she has since passed away due to factors unrelated to the alleged incident.
During her evidence, the paramedic first on the scene told the court the alleged victim was rated 15 - the highest score possible - on the Glasgow Coma Scale cognitive test.
Judge Michael McHugh is expected to deliver his verdict later this week.
More Coverage
Originally published as Hayden Carl Skinner Coffs Harbour aged care rape court trial latest
