Ergon worker accused of raping woman in motel room

A MAN accused of raping a woman in a Rockhampton motel room had met her in a nearby beer garden hours before.

Generic Ergon Energy employee at work

A MAN accused of raping a woman in a Rockhampton motel room had met her in a nearby beer garden hours before.

Justin Alexander Humphrey yesterday pleaded not guilty in Rockhampton District Court to one count of rape.

It is alleged Humphrey raped the woman, now 33, in the early hours of December 3, 2016, at Glenmore Tavern.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips said Humphrey had to navigate his way into a two-storey unit attached to the tavern, past a sleeping male downstairs and up to a room where three women slept.

He said the alleged victim was sleeping on a bed shared with another woman she referred to as a mother figure (witness B).

The women had known each other for many years through work in the Mackay region.

A witness in the trial - witness A - said she had shared two bottles of wine and then had some vodkas with the victim between 6pm and 11.30pm.

She said her friend was extremely intoxicated when she last saw her.

Mr Phillips said the victim woke witness B as she climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep.

The court heard a statement made by witness B the next day stated she had woken to the sounds of people having sex next to her.

Her statement read "(the victim) was on her back. She had no expression on her face."

The court heard the victim was wearing clothes.

The third woman in the room - witness C - said she woke to sounds of witness B trying to wake the victim up.

The court heard witness B then aroused the sleeping male downstairs saying there was someone in the room upstairs that wasn't supposed to be there.

The man said when he entered the room, he could see the victim on the bed, facing the wall and looking towards where witness B had been.

He said he could see the victim's naked buttocks and a male figure, later identified as the accused, moving his groin area as if thrusting.

The man said he called out "Get off her, you mongrel" or something similar.

"I saw red," the man said. "I grabbed him by the leg and said 'Get out of here'. He sat up and glared at me."

The man said he again told the accused to 'Get out' before the accused got up and walked away.

Witness C said at one stage she could see the victim on the upstairs bathroom floor 'sobbing' and saying 'What's going on?'.

She (witness C) said she later walked the victim downstairs.

"She was groggy and unsteady as I helped her downstairs," witness C said.

She told the court the victim did not sit up on her own and that she (witness C) held her in her arms and stroked her hair as she continued sobbing and asking what was going on.

"I've never seen her that way before," she said.

Mr Phillips said no one actually saw Humphrey penetrate.

However, the court heard a doctor called by police took swabs from three places on Humphrey's penis which all contained the victim's DNA.

The court heard Humphrey had been drinking with two other males he had been on an Ergon Energy training course with that week - James Guild and Wade Broadley.

The three Ergon men were staying in separate rooms at the motel near the beer garden and all the rooms were before the alleged victim's shared unit.

Mr Phillips said the two other men had left Humphrey drinking with the alleged victim and her friend as they went to get dinner.

Mr Broadley said he had gone back to his unit to go to bed about 8pm after being unable to finish his dinner at the tavern due to being too intoxicated.

He said he called his wife when he got to the unit and went to bed.

Mr Broadley said the next thing he remembered was being woken by a noise and found Humphrey outside his unit door.

He said Humphrey told him he'd locked himself out.

Mr Broadley said he offered Humphrey to sleep in the downstairs bed in his unit for the night and they both went to bed.

He said he woke again at some point to find Humphrey upstairs "a bit disorientated, like a normal drunk" and pointed him to the bathroom.

Mr Broadley said he woke again once more to Humphrey upstairs, assumed he was in the bathroom, and went back to sleep.

He was later woken by police knocking on his door.

The trial continues today.

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