Canberra: rising rugby union star guilty of raping teenager in car
A Canberra-based rugby union rising star, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces a stint in prison after being found guilty of raping a teenage girl in the back of her car.
Canberra Star
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An aspiring rugby union star faces the prospect of a long stint behind bars after being found guilty of twice drunkenly raping a teenage girl in the back seat of her car.
The top athlete shook his head in disagreement as Justice David Mossop delivered his verdict in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday.
His parents fought back tears.
The athlete, now an adult, cannot be named and has been given the court-ordered pseudonym “John Smith”, because the two rapes and an act of indecency he committed date to just before his 18th birthday.
A trial earlier this year heard the victim picked the drunk athlete up from a party in Barton in April 2017, and pulled over at an oval when he said he was feeling sick.
After the aspiring sports star got back in the car, he said he was “feeling hot” and took his shirt off, and the two began talking and kissing.
He then began “fingering” her, despite her telling him not to because “you’re drunk” and “like, we’re in a car park”.
When the girl said: “No, stop. Like, we’re not doing it”, the athlete said: “I can’t hear anything” and continued the sex attack.
The “nervous and scared” girl, told the powerfully built athlete “no, stop, stop” as he held her down.
He responded: “What? I can’t hear anything. Nothing is happening. I can’t hear anything”, the court heard.
Afterwards, as the girl was crying, the athlete said: “What – were you being serious?” before asking her to promise not to tell their mutual friends or her parents.
The girl rang a friend afterwards, and was in “complete hysterics”.
The court heard one of the rapists’s mother’s main concerns was for her son’s sporting contract, and she demanded to know whether the victim would go to the police.
A week later, she did.
One of the athlete’s mates later told the girl: “no one believes you”, an act which Justice Mossop branded as an act of a “hostile intermeddler”.
Justice Mossop said the victim’s “demeanour was impressive, particularly during the course of her cross-examination”.
“Her answers were usually very clear and responsive to the question that was asked,” he said.
“I accept the (victim’s) evidence that … she said “No” or otherwise verbally indicated that she did not want (sex) to occur.”
He also said the athlete was “not a particularly impressive witness”.
“I have rejected the accused’s evidence about the critical events in the car,” he said.
The athlete will be sentenced at a later date.