Mackay region man pleads not guilty to rape, assault against wife

A Qld man is accused of raping his wife shortly after a miscarriage and again while she was seven months pregnant. He has outright denied the allegations. Trigger warning.

Mackay District Court heard the allegations date back to late 2013, early 2014 then the man allegedly had non consensual sex with his wife just after she had a miscarriage.

A jury will determine the fate of a man who pleaded not guilty to raping his wife twice, once after a miscarriage and another while she was seven months pregnant, and also punching her in the face.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of two counts of rape and one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.

The three separate incidents allegedly took place while the couple were living with the wife’s parents at their property in the Mackay region.

Mackay District Court heard the allegations date back to late 2013, early 2014 then the man allegedly had non consensual sex with his wife just after she had a miscarriage.

Then in 2016, he allegedly raped his wife for the second time while she was seven months pregnant.

Crown Prosecutor Monique Sheppard told the jury the woman “told him no” and was crying at the time of the second alleged rape.

The court heard their child was born prematurely early the following morning and was rushed to Townsville for emergency treatment.

Ms Sheppard urged the jury to consider that while consent must be given at every time, her client “did not consent on either”.

She added that the man “was quite controlling of his wife” and that expanded to the family’s finances.

“The defendant would insist that (the woman) would account for every dollar that she spent and made her keep spreadsheets of each of those transactions, including nappies for the two young children,” Ms Sheppard said.

“The list of money that (the woman) was forced to keep got worse over time.”

Ms Sheppard said in mid 2017 the woman “decided to delete the spreadsheets of this transaction she was forced to keep”.

“When (he) asked her about money she had spent that particular day, she told him what she had done, that she had deleted these accounts,” Ms Sheppard said.

“And in response (he) punched his wife causing her a black eye.”

The jury were shown photos of the woman’s black eyes which the court heard she kept to herself for two years before sending them to a friend via email.

Defence barrister Paul Rutledge told the jury “these offences simply did not occur” and the woman “was lying”.

Ms Sheppard told the eight-man, four-woman jury that while the ex-wife had not reported any of this to her parents or friends at the time, “she carried what was occurring to her on her own”.

The jury will hear from a range of witnesses in the coming days as the trial under Judge Gregory Lynham continues.