Mooseheads gang rape: Fijian diplomat Lote Raboila testifies for accused Josefa Masivesi
Fiji’s second most senior diplomat in Australia has told a court one of the alleged perpetrators of a gang rape was his “go-to person” in Canberra and a loving family man.
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The man whose unit was the scene of an alleged gang rape was a diplomat’s “go to person”, a loving husband and a doting father, the ACT Supreme Court has heard
Josefa Masivesi, 44, is the oldest of four men charged with raping a woman following a boozy night at Mooseheads nightclub in November 2019.
Fiji High Commission second secretary Lote Raboila said he had known Masivesi since shortly after he arrived in Canberra.
Mr Raboila told the court he went to the same Baptist church as Masivesi and that he could get “the boys” to help with cultural activities such as welcome ceremonies for dignitaries.
He said there was “a lot of love” between Masivesi and his wife and daughter, who he would see most weekends before Masivesi was charged and remanded.
The court heard Masivesi’s wife and daughter had returned to Fiji and he was living alone at a unit on Northbourne Ave in the northern suburb of Canberra where the woman was allegedly raped.
Giving evidence in his own defence, Masivesi said he didn’t rape or have sex with the woman.
He said he didn’t clean up between the gathering and when police arrived later that day, and only moved his mattress into the back yard because he didn’t want to sleep in other people’s “liquids”.
Masivesi’s wife is also due to give evidence in her husband’s defence.
Masivesi said he had been drinking kava before going to Mooseheads, where fellow Fijian and top local rugby union player Simon Vunilagi met the alleged victim.
Under cross-examination from Crown Prosecutor Skye Jerome, Masivesi denied he was lying to save himself and lying to save Vunilagi.
The prosecution case is that Vunilagi was the ringleader of an hours-long gang rape, in which he, Masivesi and two others — Isimela Vatanitawake and Ratu Macanawai — successively sexually assaulted the woman against her will.
All have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues before Chief Justice Helen Murrell.