Cairns crime: Alan Vico rape trial hears of condom wrappers in motel room

A young woman appeared at a motel reception desk early in the morning crying and saying she did not know where she was or how she got there, Cairns District Court has heard.

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A VISIBLY distressed young woman walked into a motel reception saying she did not know where she was or how she got there, Cairns District Court heard on Tuesday.

The court has heard that former Ports North executive Alan George Vico, who has pleaded not guilty to rape, picked up a 20-year-old woman on Sheridan St and took her to the Southside International Motel on Mulgrave Rd.

Former motel manager Rachel Friend said at 7am on September 21, 2020, a woman carrying a room key and a $20 note appeared “crying and distressed”.

“She said she did not know where she was, or how she got there – I sat her down and grabbed some tissues and water, and then I called the police,” Ms Friend said.

“I asked her what room she was in and she said she didn’t know.”

Former Ports North executive Alan Vico has pleaded not guilty to rape in Cairns District Court.

Ms Friend worked out it was room 12.

The jury was shown a guest registration in the name of Alan Vico to that room.

“I opened the door to the room, I didn’t go into the room, I could see the whole room from the doorway,” Ms Friend said.

“There was a condom wrapper on the bedside table and there was also one in the bathroom.”

Ms Friend explained that after 9pm, check-in calls were referred to a night service and guests picked up a key from a safe.

Earlier in the night, Woolshed nightclub security guard Paul Hosking observed the woman “was obviously struggling to keep her balance, it looked like she had too much to drink, she was struggling to stay upright”.

The court heard that witness Jonathan Shankman told the security guard he knew the woman and he escorted her from the Woolshed to Gilligan’s, where his intention was that her friends would come outside and reunite with her.

But the woman got into a taxi.

Cairns District Court has heard the 20-year-old Norwegian student that Alan Vico is accused of raping was heavily intoxicated at the time and incapable of giving consent to sex.

The jury was shown video of bewildered taxi driver Edwin Laryea doing his best to find the address the woman gave him – which was her Brisbane address.

The woman was actually staying at a hostel.

The woman asked to be dropped off on Sheridan St and paid the driver, at 11.14pm.

Crown prosecutor Claudia Georgouras told the court 15 minutes later, Mr Vico was driving north on Sheridan St to his home in Clifton Beach, and he did a U-turn, put the woman in his car and took her to the motel.

Cairns District Court has heard that Alan Vico, who has pleaded not guilty to rape, took a heavily intoxicated 20-year-old Norwegian student to the Southside International Motel at Earlville on September 20, 2018.

She said Mr Vico told police when questioned he just wanted to help the woman and he didn’t intend to stay at the motel, he just had a shower to freshen up.

Ms Georgouras said Mr Vico booked the room at 11.57pm in a call that was recorded, and CCTV footage would show Mr Vico and the woman entering the motel room at 12.05am.

She said the woman was so intoxicated she lacked the cognitive capacity to give consent to sex.

Two of the woman’s friends, Elida Hjermann and Magna Skjaevesland, gave evidence from Norway that the trio started drinking at their hostel in the afternoon, went to a barbecue at another hostel and continued drinking and went on to the Woolshed.

Ms Hjermann said when they left the Woolshed to go to Gilligan’s to meet friends, she thought the woman might have already gone there.

She said the woman appeared drunk at the Woolshed.

Ms Hjermann said she called and texted the woman throughout the evening but did not see her until the following morning, when she was accompanied by a police officer.

Witness Esmeralda Janetski was staying at the motel with her husband and testified to seeing a man and a woman walking toward the motel rooms around midnight.

“The man had his arm around the lady, she appeared to be leaning on his shoulder,” Mrs Janetski said.

“He parked his car in a way that blocked other cars ... I saw him return to the car, he moved it, and I saw him rummage around in the car looking for something,” she said.

Originally published as Cairns crime: Alan Vico rape trial hears of condom wrappers in motel room