David Davies Ariki: Shock twist in police officer accused of rape trial

The case for the police officer who is accused of “drinking heavily” at a Cairns hotel before raping a woman, has taken a surprising turn.

David Davies Ariki denies all charges.

The case for the police officer who is accused of “drinking heavily” at a Cairns hotel before raping a woman, has taken a surprising turn.

Judge Joshua Trevino KC told the 12 jurors lined up outside the jury box on Friday the trial would be discontinued because there was no interpreter for a witness to speak in their native Solomon Islands tongue.

“There is no other option (but) to abort the trial,” he said, before thanking him for the service.

David Davies Ariki, 45, a police constable at Royal Solomon Island Police Force, will be fighting the rape charge in front of Judge Joshua Trevino KC and a jury at the Cairns District Court next week.

Mr Ariki has pleaded not guilty to one charge of rape that is alleged to have occurred in 2022.

Picture: Australian Federal Police

Crown prosecutor Rachel Boivin had told the jury they would need to decide whether sexual intercourse that occurred between Mr Ariki and the woman was consensual.

“(How the complainant) and Mr Ariki, a Solomon Island police officer, came to be in that room and on that bed at that is not entirely clear,” she said.

“What is clear, and what you will hear (the complainant) say in her evidence is that she did not consent to the sexual intercourse that occurred.

“That is really what this trial centres on, that one word or concept of consent.

“It is not in dispute that intercourse occurred … he does not deny that he did that while laying on top of her on the bed.”

Ms Boivin told the court the pair had been “drinking heavily” at a hotel along with a large group of people.

She said none of those witnesses were in the hotel room, Room 109, at the time of the alleged rape.

The Cairns Court House building on Sheridan Street. Picture: Brendan Radke

“(The complainant) will say that she struggled to get him off her, that she told him to stop,” she said.

“She will accept that she was drunk but she remembered what happened on the bed.”

The jury then heard the woman’s pre-recorded evidence in a closed courtroom.

The trial will recommence on Friday June 7.

Originally published as David Davies Ariki: Shock twist in police officer accused of rape trial