High-profile rape trial hears alleged victim ‘panicked’ when accused man returned to bedroom
A woman allegedly raped by a high-profile man “panicked” when he returned to the bedroom because she thought the assault “was going to continue”, her mother has told a court.
The woman allegedly raped by a high-profile man told her mother she “panicked” when he returned to the bedroom because she thought the sexual assault was “going to continue”, a jury has heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is standing trial in the County Court, accused of raping a woman twice inside a Melbourne home in January last year.
He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape, claiming that the complainant “got it wrong”.
The two-week trial entered its fifth day on Friday, with the jury hearing from several witnesses, including the complainant’s mother and a friend.
Crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams previously told the court the complainant attended the accused’s home late on a summer night after she was invited over by the accused’s girlfriend.
A boozy gathering had been hosted at the home that day, but only the accused, his girlfriend and his mate, Mr B*, remained when the complainant arrived at 12.23am.
Mr McWilliams said the complainant, who was in a “casual sexual relationship” with Mr B, had consensual sex with him in an upstairs bedroom.
At 1.58am, Mr B left in an Uber, arriving at his home at 2.09am.
After his departure, it is alleged that the accused slid into bed with the complainant and pretended to be Mr B as he digitally penetrated her twice.
Mr McWilliams alleged that the rapes were committed “through deception” before the accused “attempted to avoid accountability, with even more deception”, including by doctoring the Uber receipt.
But his defence barrister David Hallowes SC stated that one of the “key issues” would be whether or not Mr B returned to the bedroom before catching the Uber.
The mother of the complainant told the jury her daughter called her in the early hours of that morning, describing her as sounding “panicked” and “highly emotional”.
“What did she say to you when you spoke to her on the phone?” Mr McWilliams asked.
“I’d been raped,” the mother replied.
The jury heard the mother then drove more than an hour through the night to be with her daughter to “comfort her”.
When asked what her daughter had told her, she said she was “clear” that it was the accused in the bed with her when she was being digitally penetrated.
“She told him to stop,” the mother said.
“Did she tell you what he did?” Mr McWilliams asked.
“He continued and he held her down and penetrated her,” she replied.
The mother added that her daughter told her she identified the accused as he left the bedroom because the light was “coming in” from the hallway.
But soon after, the accused is alleged to have returned.
“What did she say to you about that?” Mr McWilliams asked.
“That she panicked, thinking it was going to continue, but (the accused) questioned what had gone on,” she replied.
The mother said her daughter recalled how the accused said she “looked like she had seen a ghost” before asking her what had happened.
“She responded: ‘You know what’s happened’,” the mother said.
The jury also heard the complainant had been anxious to involve the police.
“She had been in a safe place with people she believed were good, safe people,” she said.
A friend of the complainant also testified on Friday about her recollections of the complainant in the days after the alleged rape.
She said she visited her where she was “curled up on the couch, hugging herself”.
The friend told the jury she helped the complainant draft a message to the accused’s girlfriend, with the draft including the line: “(Mr B) and (the accused) can decide who the f--k wants to come clean because it’s in the cops hands now.”
When asked whether, at that time, there was some uncertainty as to which of the two men it was, the witness replied: “Yes.”
The trial, before Judge Gregory Lyon, continues.
*Not his real name
