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

Two of the friends who went out with the accused Alec Gage and the alleged victim on the night in question have taken the stand in the sexual assault trial on now in Coffs Harbour.

The alleged victim of a violent sexual assault was in an “off mood” on the night in question a court heard.

That was the testimony of a male friend who went out with the alleged victim and the accused on December 8, 2017 to celebrate the end of high school.

Another female friend said the alleged victim, who was the designated driver for the group of five 18-year-olds, was driving in an erratic manner.

“Her driving was a little bit ... I didn’t feel safe in the car with her driving,” she told Coffs Harbour District Court.

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 and the trial is underway.

The Crown Prosecutor gave her opening remarks on Friday outlining a number of shocking injuries including bites and bruises, that were alleged to have resulted from the assault.

The court heard the group went out to the Coast Hotel on the night of December 8 and, when they found it to be quiet, walked the short distance down to The Coffs Hotel - later returning to The Coast Hotel.

The Coffs Hotel on the Pacific Highway in the Coffs Harbour CBD.

The court heard the alleged victim was the designated driver and picked up four other friends from separate houses on the night, with Gage in the front seat and the other three in the back.

Play fighting at McDonald’s

A male friend took the stand on Tuesday, August 30, and told the court everybody was drinking except the alleged victim who was in an “off mood” later in the night and “not as happy and chatty as she may have been earlier in the night”.

He said they went to McDonald’s at the BP service centre on the southern side of town and that he and Gage were mucking around play fighting - “pushing and shoving saying ‘I’m going in first’ sort of thing.”

Asked by the Crown to rate his and the accused’s level of intoxication at the time, he said they were at a “similar level” at around a “seven or eight” on a scale of one to 10 with 10 being “blackout drunk” and nine being “able to function but not remembering a single thing”.

He said he remembered “the majority of the evening”.

Met alleged victim at the Jetty

The male friend said he was dropped off first as he lived the closest to The Coast Hotel on the south side of town and that everybody was ready to go home.

“Nobody wanted to stay at my place or keep drinking,” he told the court.

He said the next time he spoke to anyone from the group was when Gage phoned him the next day “before lunch, but not sure of the time.”

During his evidence he said Gage told him “I don’t remember anything” and that he recounted some of the basic details of the night to him.

Later in the day when he found out about the sexual assault allegations, the male friend said he messaged the alleged victim to ask if it was true and she told him that she didn’t want to tell him about it over the phone, and that they should meet at the Jetty to speak in person.

He said he went to meet her after dark “around 10’o clock at night” and that she showed him a number of injuries but that it was dark and it was hard to see.

“I couldn’t see any bruising but it wasn’t the best light,” he told the court.

‘Close friend of mine at the time’

A female friend who also went out with the alleged victim and Gage on the night of the alleged sexual assault also took the stand on Tuesday, August 30.

She described the alleged victim as a “close friend of mine at the time” and said her driving on the night was a bit erratic.

“Her driving was a little bit ... I didn’t feel safe in the car with her driving,” she said.

Asked by the Crown to describe Gage’s level of intoxication by the end of the night she said it was “quite high” and that “he wasn’t limp ... just slower.”

She told the court that when one of the friends was dropped off on the night they offered to have Gage stay there, and to drive him home the next day, but the alleged victim said “no it’s all good, I’ll drop him home”.

In the Crown’s opening statement it was alleged that after the three other friends had been dropped off, and the alleged victim and Gage were alone in the car, 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 next the witness heard from the alleged victim was a series of messages at 2.30am on December 9 asking her to ‘wake up’.

The witness told the court she was asleep and didn’t see the messages until later that morning and that a series of messages followed during which the alleged victim said “I was raped last night, my whole body is black and blue” and “my whole vagina has been sliced open”.

The messages from the alleged victim included that she had locked herself in the bathroom of her home but Gage had opened the door with a knife.

The trial continues before Judge J Priestley.