Andrew Dadley: Alleged rape victim testifies against fire chief at trial
A woman who alleges she was raped by a high-ranking fire chief took to the stand to recount what she claims happened on the night in question four years ago.
Central Sydney
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What started as a night with friends allegedly became a nightmare for a female firefighter who told a court a senior fire official began raping her while she slept.
Superintendent Andrew Thomas Dadley has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and one of indecent assault following the Christmas party on December 9, 2016.
CCTV footage from the party played to the District Court on Thursday showed the woman merrily chatting to and embracing friends at the bar, a Christmas tree visible in the background.
It also captures her in conversation with Dadley, who she alleges just hours later raped her twice after being invited to “crash” in a spare room at her unit.
She had passed out and was naked when she woke in a “dreamlike” state about 3am or 3.30am with Dadley on top “having sex with me”, the court heard.
“The whole thing was quite surreal,” the alleged victim said. “I opened my eyes and then I closed them again … probably only for a second or two.
“I could see it was him.”
She told the court the 44-year-old scooped her up and took her to another bedroom where he began to have sex with her again, licking his hand and rubbing her intimate areas.
Crown prosecutor Tarik Abdulhak asked the woman if she gave Dadley consent to carry out those acts. “Definitely not,” she replied.
During cross examination defence barrister Matthew Johnston zeroed in the woman’s level of intoxication, after she gave evidence of having drunk 12 beers and three spirits in the night.
On Wednesday she told the court she was “probably a bit pissed, but I was OK”.
Mr Johnston also asked if she could remember changing into her pyjamas after retiring for bed, which the woman said she had no “specific” recollection of.
“I have several small gaps in my memory … I can’t recall every detail of the night,” she said.
The woman has stated several times during the trial and to police that the incident was “dreamlike” at first, prompting Mr Johnston to ask: “Is it possible it was all a dream?”
“It was real and I woke up and became fully aware,” she told the court, adding the ordeal had been “humiliating”.
Firefighter Adam Richards was also invited to stay that night. He told the court on Thursday he woke on the lounge to “muffled” and “angry” voices coming from a bedroom before the naked woman emerged pushing Dadley down the hall.
“She had Andrew by the back of the hair and head and had his head against the wall,” he said.
After forcing Dadley out the door she ran back to the bedroom, pulled the covers over her body and started to “cry inconsolably”, Mr Richards said.
“She used the phrase ‘He thinks he can put his c*** in me”,” he said.
The trial continues.