Damian Bevan Ward charged with four counts of rape at mine camp

The three-day trial of a Queensland mining camp supervisor has ended in a hung jury.

A Queensland mine supervisor on trial for allegedly raping a woman four times in a donga after drinks is now waiting for a verdict after the jury heard closing arguments. TRIAL DAY 3

The trial of a Queensland mine supervisor charged with rape has ended in a hung jury after seven hours of deliberation.

Jurors were discharged on Thursday after failing to agree on whether they were satisfied Damian Bevan Ward raped a woman known to him in her donga after drinks.

Mr Ward, a supervisor at a Bowen Basin mine where it is alleged he raped the woman in mid 2021, had pleaded not guilty to four charges of rape.

After three days of hearing both the complainant and Mr Ward take the stand, witnesses for both the prosecution and defence, the 11-person jury could not decide who to believe.

One of the jurors suffered an injury and was discharged on the second day of trial.

Mackay District Court received a note about 1pm on Thursday and Judge Vicki Loury summoned the jury to ask whether they could “reach true verdicts according to the evidence”.

“At this stage, Your Honor, we cannot reach a verdict,” the speaker replied.

“So, you do not consider that with any further time you’ll be able to reach unanimous verdicts on any of the charges?” Judge Loury asked.

“I believe that we’re in consensus that we cannot reach a verdict at this stage,” the speaker replied.

At least ten supporters of Mr Ward and several other supporters with the complainant had waited in the courthouse since 9am hoping for a verdict.

Judge Loury thanked the jury for their service and discharged them.

The trial was adjourned to the next sittings on September 23.

TRIAL DAY 3: ‘He had cheated on his wife...his employment was in jeopardy’, jury hears

Mr Ward had said “well, yeah” on the call to whether the woman did not give consent, but told the court he had been lying to “settle her down” amid his own fears over the incident.

Three character witnesses and a forensic expert in adverse intoxication closed the defence case, with barrister Anthony Kimmins giving his closing address first.

“Damian’s whole understanding of the (pretext) conversation was that she was going to make a complaint to the company (about) a supervisor having sexual connection with a subordinate employee,” Mr Kimmins said.

“He had cheated on his wife, his wife was not working, and they had a young child … and his employment was in jeopardy.

“He had a tsunami of problems and pressures on him, not the least that he’d been unfaithful, and faced copping the wrath of company policy … his worst nightmare had finally hit.”

Damian Bevan Ward leaving Mackay Courthouse during his trial for 4 counts of rape on April 9, 2024. Photo: Zoe Devenport

Mr Kimmins told the jury that Mr Ward had been “subservient” to the complainant during that conversation because he felt “at her mercy” while trying to prevent the “absolute demolition of his life as he knew it”.

Forensic physician Dr Les Griffiths said based on the woman’s evidence in court he believed she had suffered from a “fragmentary blackout” after drinking the equivalent of two bottles of wine, which would have impacted her memory on the night of the alleged rape.

Crown prosecutor Farook Anoozer said the jury had “many reasons” why they should reject Mr Ward’s evidence and it was the call in particular “that gives his game away”.

“You would think, by his own admission in this court, that he is a man who is prepared to lie when he is in a difficult situation, “ Mr Anoozer said.

“He’s a person today who is in this trial, he admitted that he cheated on his wife, he also admitted he lied in the telephone call with the complainant, and also admitted he breached company policy by having sex with a co-worker on the premises.

“You have to evaluate that character.”

Mr Ward had given evidence that the encounter had stopped and started as he “went soft”, yet Mr Anoozer posited that had happened because “she was resisting” by tucking her knees and repeatedly saying no.

Both the complainant and Mr Ward again had supporters in court, including Mr Ward’s wife.

After a summing up from Judge Vicki Loury, the jury retired to deliberate.

TRIAL DAY 2: ‘As a married man’: Mine supervisor denies camp rape charge

Mr Ward took the witness stand on day two of his trial to say he was lying in a phone conversation recorded by police when he agreed with the woman he is accused of raping that she never gave him consent.

“I was trying to tell her whatever I thought she wanted to hear, to try and hopefully not let this thing blow up,” he said.

He told the court that “as a married man”, at the time of that conversation he was “trying to figure out how to tell my wife I cheated on her”.

Mr Ward denied allegations the woman said “No” multiple times on the way back to the donga or whilst they were intimate, insisting the woman had initiated some parts of the encounter.

The jury heard he had been seeking a psychologist to “figure out how to tell” his wife and that he and the complainant had discussed recommendations in casual conversation before and after the incident.

A woman who had been drinking with the group and Senior Sergeant Timothy Reed of Moranbah police station gave testimonies concluding the prosecution case.

The alleged victim’s testimony was delivered to a closed court.

TRIAL DAY 1: “Do you agree that I never gave you consent?” “Well, yeah.”

Mr Ward’s alleged conversation with the woman was repeated verbatim as Crown prosecutor Farook Anoozer opened the case in Mackay District Court on Monday.

“Do you agree that I never gave you consent?” it is alleged she asked, to which he allegedly responded, “Well, yeah.”

Mr Ward has pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape that allegedly occurred on June 22, 2021.

The court heard she reported the alleged rape 19 days later and then called Mr Ward to tell him, recording the conversation and from which Mr Anoozer drew the opening quotes of his address.

“I never wanted you to touch me, I never wanted you to be intimate with me … what made you think that you could do that Damo,” Mr Anoozer read from the transcript.

“He answered I can’t explain that honestly.”

Mr Anoozer said the woman was single while Mr Ward had a wife and child when they went out for drinks with others.

Mr Anoozer said after the pub closed and the group decided to walk back to camp, Mr Ward allegedly pulled the woman back and told her “he thought they had a connection”.

“(She) kept bringing up that he had a wife. He had a child. So that he would feel guilty,” Mr Anoozer said.

“She told him that he’s a married man, go home, she was still heavily intoxicated … the next she remembers was (Mr Ward) standing at the end of her bed in her room.

“Her jeans, her underwear were just past her knees and (Mr Ward) was pulling at them … she tucked her knees and said no.

“She told (him) that she did not want anything (but) he pulled (her) knees apart.”

In the defence opening, Mr Kimmins said Mr Ward would present testimony himself and asked the jury to “please do not jump to any conclusion insofar as his guilt”.

Mr Kimmins told the court the woman gave Mr Ward a ride home after the alleged incident and had texted several times in a friendly fashion since, questioning the time gap til the woman reported to a police station.