NT Police officer pleads not guilty to raping teenage friend

An NT cop allegedly claimed he raped a teenager because he dreamt that ‘the only way he could end her pregnancy was to give her an orgasm’, a court has heard.

A SERVING Territory cop allegedly claimed he raped his teenage friend while he was asleep because he dreamt that “the only way he could end her pregnancy was to give her an orgasm”, a court has heard.

Patrick Carson, 39, pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court on Thursday to two counts of raping the then 19-year-old after meeting her through a shared interest in 2020.

In his opening address to jurors, Crown prosecutor, Marty Aust, said the pair struck up “an intense personal relationship” in which she saw him as a “father figure”.

“The accused became a support for (the woman) and, under the guise of becoming a supporting and caring father figure, allowed a situation to evolve in which she trusted him, felt loved, important and special, to the extent that he was able to control aspects of her life and, ultimately, take advantage of her in a sexual manner,” he said.

On May 5, Mr Aust said, Carson and the woman were at his family home when, after his wife and children left, he gave her a massage, during which he repeatedly penetrated her with his finger.

Mr Aust said it was the Crown case that Carson later “profusely apologised” and “they both agreed to forget the incident”.

But then on July 8, the pair were alone on a couch while she house sat for a friend when he started groping her, saying “words to the effect that he regretted not finishing her off last time”.

“(The woman) says she became angry and used words similar to ‘no, like, I really don’t want to do this, please stop’, and he just ignored her and whispered in her ear “Shh, shh, be quiet, just be a good girl and stay still’,” Mr Aust said.

Mr Aust said Carson told her “I can’t resist you” and that he “was going to get what he wanted” before groping her forcefully enough to penetrate her through her leggings.

The alleged assault ended after Carson received a phone call from his wife and left and Mr Aust said he and the teenager later discussed the incident.

“During the conversation (she) says the accused had told her about a case where he’d been investigating, as a police officer, a man who’d been raping women while he was asleep and he told her he believed he was experiencing something similar to what that man was experiencing,” he said.

“(She) says he said that he believed he was asleep that night and that he was having a dream that (she) was pregnant and the only way he could end her pregnancy was to give her an orgasm.”

In her opening address, defence barrister, Mary Chalmers SC, there was no dispute that the massage happened and that the pair were also alone together on the second occasion.

“What is in dispute is what really happened on those two occasions and the defence case is that there was no sexual intercourse, of any description, on either of those occasions,” she said.

“This is a case where, on the defence case, there’s been gross exaggeration to the point of a distortion of the truth and that there’s key issues relating to credibility and reliability that you’ll ultimately need to determine.”

The trial continues.