Security guards give evidence in NSW police officer Ankit Thangasamy trial

A married dad and cop told police he felt shame and regret after having sex that was consented to with ‘enthusiasm’ in the toilet cubicle of a bar in Sydney’s CBD. Warning: Graphic.

Senior Constable Ankit Thangasamy outside Sydney District Court.

Married dad and cop Ankit Thangasamy told police he regretted having sex – which he described as being done with “really enthusiastic” consent in the toilet cubicle of a bar in Sydney’s CBD.

The South Sydney Police Area Command Senior Constable has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent after the alleged incident at a Haymarket venue on December 17, 2021.

At Sydney District Court on Thursday, a police interview from March 9, 2022 – the day Thangasamy was arrested at his Greystanes home – was played to the court.

“I had consensual sex, which I highly regret and I’m sure she does too, obviously,’’ he told officer-in-charge Detective Sergeant Lyndel Hardiman and another detective at Fairfield police station.

The former Holroyd SES volunteer told police he had been going through “a bit of a difficult time” after working 11 consecutive 10-hour shifts the night before he went to the bar.

Ankit Thangasamy a month after his police interview in 2022.

The court heard he woke up at 4am to go to work and had not had much sleep.

It heard that Thangasamy saw the woman outside the Haymarket venue where they exchanged “compltedly pleasant” banter while waiting in a queue.

She allegedly joked with Thangasamy that a white man in the line could be her “boyfriend but you can be my black lover’’.

The court heard he later regretted going to the bar but wanted to relax.

“It was probably not a good idea to go there,’’ he said in the interview.

“It’s not what I really like. It was really loud. I had a few more drinks there.’’

The court heard he started dancing with the same woman he had spoken to outside and she started grinding on him.

“Not to make any excuses for it but it was one of those things where one thing leads to the next,’’ he said.

“It was a series of small steps which I shouldn’t have gone down and we were dancing together and it started off harmless. It all happened very quickly.’’

He told police they were kissing and made their way to the female toilets.

“When we were moving to the toilets in my mind it was very clear we were going to the toilet for the purpose of having sex and it was her intention too,’’ he said.

“I don’t know where that conversation happened.’’

He told police during the interview it was very cramped in the toilet stall and the “angles” of the cubicle made sex positions difficult so they did not have full intercourse.

“It was a terrible situation be in but it was a very confined space,’’ he said.

“We didn’t really have proper intercourse. There may have been some degree of penetration, I don’t know. It just didn’t work.’’

He told police the woman allegedly told him she was on her period and he said “that’s all good” before they had oral sex.

They were interrupted by security guards who escorted them from the toilets.

He told police the topic of marriage arose when he and the woman were outside and it “came up’’ that he had a wife, who he said had tried to contact him several times that night.

The next day, he told police he felt selfish and thought “f--k I can’t believe what happened last night”.

“Just waves of regret. Just feeling really down, really sad ..’’

The court heard he texted the alleged victim in the morning to make sure she arrived home safely.

During the interview, he told police he had thought about sexual assault allegations such as those against former NRL star Jarryd Hayne.

“I know there’s a lot of grey area with sexual assault in terms of consent and what consent is,’’ he said.

“In my matter I can honestly tell you there is no grey area. It was really enthusiastic consent.

“It was obviously a regrettable act and she clearly regrets it too, and I’m sorry for my role in that.

“I think it’s one of those things that … already has – caused a lot of heartache and pain to people and it’s going to continue for a long time. I’m 30 years old. It’s really shameful.’’

The jury earlier heard the woman consumed 10 schooners that night and Thangasamy had several drinks including a rum and Coke, beers, vodka Red Bulls and two Lord Nelsons.

Judge Craig Smith told the jury that in the trial, the prosecution would not allege that the complainant was too intoxicated to provide consent.

Staff provide evidence

A security guard who is a witness in a sexual assault trial accusing cop Thangasamy of rape told a court he saw him penetrate a woman in a toilet cubicle but later said he was “unsure” it occurred.

Thangasamy has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent after the alleged incident at a Haymarket bar on December 17, 2021.

The 32-year-old married father, whose wife has supported him during the trial, is representing himself.

At Sydney District Court on Wednesday, the court heard from four staff members including two security guards who were working at the venue the night of the alleged incident.

The court heard that the first security guard to be cross examined said he went to the female bathrooms after he allegedly saw Thangasamy follow the woman there.

Ankit Thangasamy is representing himself during the trial.

He had seen a man he described as looking like Thangasamy and the woman interact before he headed to the toilets.

The guard allegedly saw two pairs of feet before he entered the adjacent stall and stood on the toilet so he could check the pair “roughly three times”.

“I saw the male and female. I don’t know how to explain … neck kissing, giggling, playing around,’’ he said.

“They were facing each other. The bodies were touching each other, they were very close.’’

He then allegedly saw the woman turning around with her back to Thangasamy.

“She then took off her underwear and the male took off his pants and his underwear,’’ the security guard said.

The court heard that the guard saw “the male was preparing to penetrate at the time”.

“So the male was holding his genitals,’’ the guard said.

He told the court after the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reason, bent over and held the toilet bowl.

The witness told the court he looked over the cubicle a third time and they were having “sexual intercourse so the male waspenetrating the female at the time” before he left to alert a manager.

The security guard is not accused of any wrongdoing.

When Thangasamy asked the security guard if he heard the woman say stop after she put her underwear down, the security guard said no.

When he then suggested the guard’s memory would have been better when he provided police a statement in January 2022, he agreed and said he “was unsure” if penetration occurred.

“Right now I couldn’t say I’m 100 per cent sure,’’ he said.

The venue manager on the night who rushed to the toilets also gave evidence.

The guard said the woman was crying, “a bit embarrassed” and told him “I’m not feeling safe’’ after she was escorted from the toilets.

When the Crown asked him if the woman told him she was sexually assaulted, he said “nothing’’.

“She didn’t say anything about that,’’ he said.

‘She’s disoriented’ 

Another venue manager told the court it “probably took longer than usual for the door to get unlocked’’ after he knocked on the cubicle.

He allegedly saw the “back of the male” and the “woman was sitting down as if she was trying to pee as if she was on the toilet”.

He ushered the man out and asked him to leave the venue.

“I remember him being quite dismissive, saying something along the lines of ‘she’s disoriented’ and he was basically refusing to leave,’’ he said.

The mother of the complainant gave evidence that her daughter called her more than once in a distressed state and told her she was allegedly sexually assaulted.

“She was crying, she was stumbling over her words, she was agitated,’’ the mum said.

“Something had upset her and I didn’t know what it was at that stage. She said ‘something bad has happened, Mum’.

Ankit Thangasamy arrives at court with his wife in the early days of his trial. Picture: Christian Gilles

“She said they were dancing and she was having a nice night and a lovely time and they started kissing on the dance floor, and she went into the bathroom and he followed her.’’

The court heard her daughter told her mum she had oral sex with the man and they started to have “normal sex” before she remembered she had a tampon on and repeatedly told him to stop.

“She tried to push him off but she couldn’t and then someone came into the bathroom and interrupted what was happening and she stormed off and ran to the front (of the pub) and that’s when she called me.’’

Thangasamy did not cross examine the woman’s mother.

Officer in charge Detective Sergeant Lyndel Hardiman read a statement on behalf of another police officer who took a statement from the woman at Redfern police station where she was “upset, sobbing and had difficulty’’ expressing herself.

She told the cop Thangasamy allegedly “bent me over the toilet” before she remembered she had a tampon.

“He forced me from behind,’’ she said in the statement.

“She said … ‘I don’t know if he had sex with me or not. I still had my tampon in.’’

The court heard she agreed the oral sex was consensual. “Then I remembered I was on my period. It was not consensual,’’ she said in the statement Det-Sgt Hardiman read.

The trial before Judge Craig Smith continues.