Anzac Meaalofa and Tevina Letoa accused of raping young woman in a Toowoomba share house

The trial of two men accused of raping a young woman multiple times at a Toowoomba sharehouse has reached a stalemate.

Anzac Meaalofa and Tevina Letoa stand charged with four counts each of rape in Toowoomba District Court. Picture: The Chronicle

A jury has failed to return a verdict in the trial against two men accused of raping a young woman they had just met.

Anzac Meaalofa and Tevina Faigame Letoa were both charged in Toowoomba District Court with four counts of rape after it was alleged they forced a young woman to perform sexual acts in a nonconsensual attack.

The court heard Mr Meaalofa, who introduced himself to the woman as ‘James’, and Mr Letoa took her and another person to an East Toowoomba share house after meeting on a night out in October 2022.

The woman told the court she had engaged in consensual acts with Mr Meaalofa earlier that night but alleged the two men raped her in multiple ways after Mr Meaalofa told her she needed to “share”.

“When Mr Meaalofa wanted her to share with Mr Letoa, she said no,” Crown Prosecutor Emily Coley said in her closing statement.

“There is a real and significant difference between a willingness to go home with a man and have sex with that man.

“And then to be asked to have sex with two men at the same time … with two men you had just met – it’s logical and it makes sense that she would say no to that.”

While both men struggled with English, the court heard the young woman had expressed her unease and had cried and physically recoiled during the alleged attack, showing a lack of consent.

Following the alleged incident, the young woman travelled back to her home with the two men in their van, telling the court she did so in hope their license plate would be picked up by CCTV cameras at the house, although claimed she did not initially intend to make a police complaint.

“She wanted to pretend it never happened,” Ms Coley said to the jury.

“She blamed herself that she didn’t fight enough.”

Photographs tendered to the court showed the young woman smiling with the two men after the attacks were alleged to have occurred; however prosecution argued this was a merely survival response on the part of the alleged victim.

“She told you she was in pure survival mode,” Ms Coley asserted to the jury.

“She told you that once Mr Meaalofa said to her, “if I take you home, will you come back?’ she changed tactic, she played along until she got home.

“I’d suggest to you that there is not one single, precise or correct way to respond in the face of an event like this.”

Ms Coley argued the young woman had no reason to lie as no one in her life knew about the encounter or the existence of either man until she told them.

“Why would (the complainant) tell her mother, why would she go to the hospital, why would she go to police and why would she be here in court giving evidence,” she said.

“It simply doesn’t make sense.”

In his closing statement, Barrister Daniel Boddice on behalf of Mr Meaalofa argued the young woman’s testimony could not be taken as truth.

“I implore you to apply your combined wisdom and common sense to the evidence because once you do that, you could not possibly be satisfied that this complainant has been honest with respect to her account of what happened,” Mr Boddice said.

“It’s not difficult to create a lie and maintain that lie … allegations of rape are so easily made and so difficult to disprove.”

He reiterated the young woman was “prone to acting recklessly”, had ceased taking her mental health medication and was drinking and smoking on the night of the alleged attack.

He argued further she had lied to save face.

“After engaging in consensual sexual intercourse with my client and Mr Letoa, she regretted what she had done so she lied about one critical fact, that being whether she said yes or no,” he said.

“She was then stuck with that lie.”

Mr Letoa’s barrister Jessica Goldie said the young woman had contradicted her evidence on multiple occasions when pressed by the defence.

“You might have started to think to yourselves there really are two sides to this story here,” Ms Goldie said.

“The complainant has not been upfront about those photographs.

“Only after (cross examination) she realised because of the timings of those photographs that they were in fact taken after what she says were these rapes.”

Ms Goldie argued further the young woman had shown favour to the two men following the alleged rapes.

“She was happy to get in the van with these two men, happy to let these two men drive her home, happy to put her number in Mr Meaalofa’s phone and when they asked her if she would be back to visit she said she would,” Ms Goldie said.

“If the pieces don’t fit together into that narrative of the complainant that must cause you concern.

“And those pieces don’t fit together into the complainant’s narrative because the truth is this was an entirely consensual interaction.”

The jury began deliberating midday on Thursday and, only a few hours later, returned to Judge Nicole Kefford with a note claiming they had reached a stalemate.

After discussions with counsel, Ms Kefford declared a mistrial on the grounds of a hung jury, stating it was clear the jury would not reach a unanimous decision.

Mr Meaalofa and Mr Letoa will return to Toowoomba District Court on December 12 for mention.

Originally published as Anzac Meaalofa and Tevina Letoa accused of raping young woman in a Toowoomba share house