Yohannes Abate Faris rape trial in Maroochydore District Court

Members of the jury in the trial of a rape-accused Sunshine Coast doctor will continue deliberations into the seventh day after they were unable to reach a verdict. Warning - distressing content.

Yohannes Abate Faris in 2019. Photo: Social media

The jury in the trial for a Sunshine Coast doctor accused of raping a woman after a dinner date have spent the day deliberating without reaching a verdict.

District Court Judge Gary Long addressed the jury with his summary statements shortly after 9am on Tuesday, February 6, before he released them to deliberate the verdict around 10am.

Tuesday marks the sixth day in the trial in which doctor Yohannes Abate Faris, 45, faces five counts of rape.

The jury were instructed by Mr Long on Friday to find Mr Faris not guilty on two counts.

The jury will return to deliberations on Wednesday.

TRIAL DAY FIVE

The defence counsel in the trial of a doctor charged with rape has rebuked claims the alleged victim displayed “sexual naivety” in conversations leading up to the alleged offence.

Monday, February 5, marked the fifth day of the trial for former Sunshine Coast doctor Yohannes Abate Faris, 45.

Mr Faris pleaded not guilty to five counts of rape in the Maroochydore District Court on Tuesday, January 30.

On day one of the trial, the jury heard the alleged rapes took place on March 13, 2022, after Mr Faris and the alleged victim had been on a dinner date.

On Friday afternoon, District Court Judge Gary Long told the jury they were to find Mr Faris not guilty on two of the five counts due to a lack of evidence.

In her closing statement to the court on Monday, Crown prosecutor Annica Fritz told the jury it was not possible Mr Faris believed the alleged victim had consented to having sex with him, having previously told him she was waiting for marriage.

“He could not have had an honest and reasonable but mistaken belief that she was consenting at the time,” Ms Fritz said.

Ms Fritz also told the jury the alleged victim displayed “sexual naivety” when it came to anatomical terms and had difficulty articulating sexual acts during the evidence she gave to the court over the course of the trial.

In the defence’s closing statements, barrister Liam Dollar told the court “marriage was not an immovable line” when it came to the alleged victim’s stance of engaging in sexual acts with Dr Faris.

Mr Dollar read the jury a series of text messages between the alleged victim and Dr Faris, telling the court they showed a mutual understanding sex was implied due to the “flavour of the conversation”.

“She knew when she was meeting Yohannes there was a discussion of sex occurring,” Mr Dollar said.

TRIAL DAY FOUR

A judge has told the jury to find a Sunshine Coast doctor not guilty on two charges of rape as his trial reaches the conclusion of its fourth day.

Yohannes Abate Faris, 45, has pleaded not guilty in the Maroochydore District Court to five counts of rape of a woman after taking her to dinner.

The court was previously told the pair met on a Christian dating website and Dr Faris, a father of two, practised in Bli Bli and Mooloolaba.

Friday marked the fourth day of his trial.

The jury was told by Judge Gary Long on Friday afternoon to find Dr Faris not guilty on two of the counts of rape due to a lack of evidence.

One final witness, a police officer, was called before the crown prosecutor closed the case.

A further three witnesses, a forensic nurse examiner, the alleged victim’s pastor and a police officer, gave evidence earlier in the day.

The police officer’s evidence included video footage of police questioning Dr Faris about the alleged rapes, where Dr Faris repeatedly claimed they had consensual sex.

He told police in the video he stopped when the alleged victim asked him to and knew the alleged victim was a virgin.

The alleged victim’s pastor told the jury he was in constant contact with the alleged victim the afternoon of her date with Dr Faris and into that night.

He said the alleged victim said Dr Faris “presented himself as a gentleman”, but later in the night her tone in the text messages “changed dramatically” and she said he “turned out to be a real jerk” and that she was leaving to go home. She then called herself “such an idiot”.

The man eventually got the alleged victim on the phone, he told the jury, where he described her sounding out of breath and like she had been crying and she sounded like she may have been running down a hallway.

He told the jury the alleged victim told her Dr Faris had “attacked (her)” and that she was bleeding, though she did not elaborate.

Barrister Liam Dollar had no questions for the man.

The next witness, a forensic nurse, told the jury she had conducted a rape kit on the alleged victim after the alleged attack and the alleged victim had presented to the hospital extremely upset and was in pain.

She said the alleged victim told her what happened, including that the couple had kissed in the car on the way back to Dr Faris’ apartment.

TRIAL DAY TWO AND THREE

Thursday marked day three of his trial.

The court was closed on Thursday and Wednesday while the alleged victim gave evidence.

TRIAL DAY ONE 

Crown prosecutor Annica Fritz told the jury during her opening statement on Tuesday Dr Faris and the alleged victim had met on dating site Christian Connection on March 3, 2022, and began texting the next day after Dr Faris gave the woman his number.

Ms Fritz said Dr Faris asked the woman out for dinner on March 8 and to have her stay with him. They organised the date for March 13.

She told the court Dr Faris asked the woman shortly after organising their meet up if she had any previous relationships, to which she said “I haven’t lost my virginity, it is a promise I made to God and myself”.

“She made it quite clear she did not want to have sexual intercourse,” Ms Fritz said.

She told the jury the couple went on their date and went back to Dr Faris’ Maroochydore apartment, where the woman consented to cuddling and kissing, but nothing more.

She told the jury explicit details of the alleged rapes, including that the woman repeatedly told him no, and that he continued to “push boundaries”.

The woman later left Dr Faris’ apartment and called her Pastor about what had happened before alerting the police, the court was told.

She was then taken to the Nambour Hospital for examination, and the next day took part in a recorded phone call with Dr Faris and gave a written statement to police.

Ms Fritz said the jury would see text messages between the woman and Dr Faris and a video recording of Dr Faris’ interview with police.

The first witness Ms Fritz called was a police officer from the Sunshine Coast District Duty Office, who had been called to the unit the woman was staying at after she called 000.

The officer presented bodycam footage of his interaction with the woman, who appeared visibly distressed while recounting what allegedly happened.

In the video, the woman told police she told Faris she had “strong Christian faith” and did not want to have sex before marriage.

She said she told him she “wanted to take things slow” and told him no when he tried to take things further, but he “wanted to finish the job”.

The woman recounted seeing her blood on the floor between the living room, where the couple had started, and Dr Faris’ bedroom, where he had moved her after alleged interactions on the couch.

She told police after the alleged rapes had occurred, she went to have a shower and Dr Faris asked to join her. She said no, the court was told.

Instead, she said he “sat on the toilet” while she showered and kept telling her to “talk to him”, but she said no.

She told police he tried to come into the room while she was getting dressed, and she told him to “get out of (her) way” when she finally left the apartment.

She told police she “felt like an idiot” over the interaction, and said she remembered thinking “maybe I need to relax more?”.

The video stopped after two detectives from the Maroochydore CIB arrived at the unit and began asking the woman questions.

Barrister Liam Dollar had no questions for the officer.

The court was closed after lunch for the jury to hear evidence from the alleged victim.

The trial continues on Thursday, February 1.