Final trial day for Airman accused of trying to rape Tinder date’s flatmate

AN AIR FORCE member accused of trying to rape the sleeping flatmate of his Tinder date will today face the final day of his five-day jury trial

Air Force member Renju Reghunath outside court ... Reghunath will today face the final day of his five-day jury trial

• Airman who allegedly tried to rape his Tinder date’s sleeping housemate faces trial in Darwin

AN AIR FORCE member accused of trying to rape the sleeping flatmate of his Tinder date will today face the final day of his five-day jury trial.

Renju Reghunath, 35, pleaded not guilty in the Darwin Supreme Court on Monday to one count of attempted rape after matching with the woman’s housemate on the dating app in July 2018.

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Crown prosecutor Tami Grealy told jurors Reghunath met up with his Tinder date in the early evening of July 27 before they went back to her Rapid Creek unit for consensual sex.

Ms Grealy said Reghunath’s date dropped him back at the RAAF base in Winnellie but they met up again at Monsoons later that night and he drove her home at about 2am.

She said the woman would give evidence that she made her bed and kissed Reghunath but then fell asleep, telling him “No, I’m too tired”.

The Crown alleges Reghunath then went into the bedroom of the woman’s flatmate, who woke to find him on top of her, holding down her left arm and using the other hand to pull aside her underwear.

He then allegedly “poked” her genital area with his penis, trying to have intercourse with the woman.

The alleged victim told the court she then pushed him off her telling him “get out of my room.”

In court on Thursday, the jury heard evidence from the accused who said he mistakenly went into the alleged victim’s room, thinking it was the bedroom of his date, and lay down on the bed.

“Do you really expect the jury to believe, with the layout of the room being so different, you walked in and no alarm bells rang that you might be in the wrong place?” Ms Grealy asked Reghunath.

Reghunath said when the alleged victim told him to get out he “touched her” in an attempt to calm her down.

“I explained to her nothing happened, I gave her a shock,” he said.

The Crown also alleges Reghunath expressed an interest in having a threesome with the two flatmates, and went into the alleged victim’s bedroom earlier in the evening before leaving when she woke up and told him to get out – an allegation he denied in his testimony.

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“If you accept what [the date] says … the accused had already demonstrated some interest in [the victim],” Ms Grealy said.

Reghunath lawyer Mary Chalmers will give her closing address to the jury today.