Glenn Robinson, Josateki Setuata, Joe Tauiliili rape trial begins

A woman alleged she was choked with a belt and repeatedly sexually assaulted by three men while she was heavily intoxicated in the early hours of Anzac Day 2021, a court has heard.

Glenn Robinson (right) leaves Parramatta District Court with his legal representatives after the first day of his trial for an alleged rape in April 2021.

A woman was allegedly choked with a belt and sexually assaulted so forcefully by three men a sanitary product was stuck inside her body, a court has heard.

Army veteran and former Corrective Services officer Glenn Robinson, Joe Tauiliili and Josateki Setuata were charged after they allegedly sexually assaulted her at Setuata’s Riverstone apartment on April 24, 2021.

Robinson has been charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault in company and four counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

Tauiliili is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one of sexual intercourse without consent.

Setuata is charged with one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

All three have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges and are now facing trial at Parramatta District Court before Judge Lara Gallagher.

Parramatta District Court.

Robinson and Tauiliili acknowledge they had sex with the complainant but insist it was consensual.

Setuata denies having any sexual contact with the complainant, saying he was heavily intoxicated and passed out when the encounter occurred.

Crown prosecutor Monika Knowles told a jury of 15 – of whom 12 will decide the verdict – the complainant met the three friends the night before Anzac Day 2021 at Rouse Hill pub The Fiddler.

Ms Knowles said the jury would hear the complainant does not remember leaving the venue in an Uber, or going to Setuata’s address around 2am on Anzac Day.

“You will hear evidence from her that her first memory is being naked, bent over a couch, with a belt tightened around her neck, as Mr Tauiliili was having penile-vaginal sex with her, and the other two were in the room at the same time,” Mr Knowles said.

“The next act she recalls is being picked up by Tauiliili and being placed on Mr Robinson’s lap, and he proceeded to have penile-vaginal sex with her.”

Tauiliili’s counsel Mark Robinson later told the court his client denied a belt was ever involved in the sexual encounter.

“She recalls Mr Tauiliili had penile-anal intercourse with her, at the same time Mr Robinson was having penile-vaginal sex with her,” Ms Knowles continued.

“She remembers lying on the lounge room floor on her back, with Mr Setuata crouching over her with his fingers in her vagina, which caused her pain such that she urinated.”

Setuata’s counsel Varinder Pawal later told the jury his client denies ever touching or penetrating the complainant in any way.

The Fiddler at Rouse Hill. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Ms Knowles said the jury would hear evidence the complainant had offered a “blowjob”, or oral sex, but that what actually occurred at the Riverstone apartment was very different.

“She describes ‘being passed around like a ragdoll’, to use her words,” Ms Knowles said.

Ms Knowles said the jury would hear that Tauiliili referred to “f—king a Sydney ganga” and “putting a girl on the spit” – a crude term used to describe certain sexual activity involving one woman and two men – in intercepted texts and phone calls after the alleged assault.

The court heard the complainant kept her underwear in a plastic bag while she contemplated reporting the matter to police, and a sexual assault examination at Blacktown Hospital allegedly revealed bruising inside her body.

The woman also had her period at the time, and the court heard a tampon she had inserted prior to the alleged assault was forced so far inside her it had to be removed with a medical instrument.

Robinson’s counsel Douglas Marr told the court the complainant’s reliability was at issue, alleging she was an alcoholic and had lied to a hospital nurse about how much she had to drink on the night in question.

He also said Robinson would claim he found Tauiliili and the complainant having sex again, shook both their hands as they laughed, and said goodbye before leaving the address to attend an Anzac Day Dawn Service.

Tauiliili’s counsel Mr Robinson said he did not dispute sexual activity occurred but that his client believed it was consensual.

The complainant began giving evidence in a closed court on Tuesday afternoon.

The trial continues on Wednesday.