Alec Raymond Gage sexual assault trial on at Coffs Harbour District Court

‘I just hope you are 110 per cent about this?’ Another friend of both the alleged victim and the accused in the sexual assault trial takes the stand at Coffs Harbour.

Another friend of both the accused and alleged victim of a sexual assault that occurred in 2017 has taken the stand in the trial on now at Coffs Harbour District Court.

He expressed doubt about the alleged victim’s version of events telling the court:

“In the past she’s not been the most truthful about things and that’s why I had some doubt about what had happened.”

Two other friends have already given evidence, with one saying the alleged victim was in an off mood and another saying she was driving erratically on the night the group of five 18-year-olds went out to celebrate the end of high school.

Alec Gage is facing six charges of sexual intercourse without consent in relation to an incident which was alleged to have occurred on the night of December 8, 2017, when he was 18.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The male friend giving evidence on August 31 was in the car with the four others when they went out to the Coast Hotel and Coffs Hotel then stopped at McDonald’s at the BP service centre south of town on the way home.

The alleged victim was the designated driver and she has given evidence stating that when she and Gage were alone in the car after dropping the other three friends off, he grabbed her by the throat and threatened to take the wheel of the car, and run them off the road, but she thought she would be safe once she got home to where her mother and partner were sleeping.

It was there, in a spare bedroom, where the assaults were alleged to have taken place.

The witness told the court that when the option of Gage staying with one of them was raised, the alleged victim said “don’t worry about it, he’s all right.”

He said that “because he was drunk it would be good for him to stay at a mate’s place”.

But instead he “slapped him in the face to wake him up and gave him a hug goodbye”.

Like a previous witness he said he received some messages from the alleged victim in the early hours of the morning asking him to wake up.

He told the court he didn’t see them until around 5.20am and he responded ‘what’s up’.

When he became aware of the allegations he sent a number of messages to the alleged victim saying ‘we aren’t taking sides (but) one thing that doesn’t make sense is if it happened at your house why weren’t you screaming or banging on the walls’.

The court heard she messaged back saying ‘excuse me, you think I didn’t scream? you have no f***ing idea what happened’.

He also messaged saying ‘I hope you are 110 per cent about this because the ramifications are extremely serious and I don’t want to see any of your lives destroyed because of it’.

The trial continues before Judge Jonathan Priestley.