Rape allegations against former NT Police Assistant Commissioner revealed as trial gets under way

A FORMER cop who was allegedly raped by then-sergeant Peter Bravos was so distressed the next morning she took out her service pistol ‘with the intention of doing herself harm’, a court has heard.

Former NT Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Bravos with wife Cindy Bravos outside the Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to two counts of rape. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

• Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, former speaker Kezia Purick to give evidence in Bravos rape trial

A FORMER cop who was allegedly raped by then-sergeant Peter Bravos was so distressed the next morning she took out her service pistol “with the intention of doing herself harm”, a court has heard.

Bravos, who was then a member of the drug squad and went on to rise to the rank of Assistant Commissioner, has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to two counts of rape dating back to 2004.

In his opening address to jurors today, Crown prosecutor Nick Papas QC said Bravos and the woman were both guests at a boozy annual emergency services ball on the night of the alleged rapes.

He said Bravos and the woman later ended up at the Mindil Beach Casino but she was refused entry due to her level of intoxication so they both went back to his house in The Narrows.

Mr Papas said it quickly became apparent Bravos’ wife and children weren’t at home and the pair continued drinking and ended up fully clothed in the pool where Bravos “made advances towards her which she rebuffed”.

He later gave her a T-shirt to replace her soaked ball gown before allegedly raping her twice while she was passed out on the bed.

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Mr Papas said the woman was “very distressed” the next day about what had happened but didn’t make a complaint at the time because she felt it could damage her career.

“She went to the … gun locker and she actually took out her Glock pistol, she says, where it was stored, with the intention of doing herself harm but luckily she returned it — that’s how distressed she says she was,” he said.

Mr Papas said the woman decided to come forward in 2017 after hearing “rumours about a black book” circulating among drug squad members which placed the odds of one of them sleeping with her at 70 to one.

“She decided now was the time, having heard that allegation of a black book being kept in the drug squad as to the odds of people being able to sleep with someone, that she was going to do something about it,” he said.

Mr Papas said the Crown was not seeking to prove the book actually existed but said “(she) believed it existed and was told about it and that was her motivation for coming forward after all these years”.

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Bravos’ barrister, John Lawrence SC, said his client did not deny having sex with the woman and “the only issue, really, is consent”.

Mr Lawrence said a witness in the trial, whose identity is suppressed, reported the alleged rape to the former Public Interest Disclosures Commission in a bid to scotch Bravos’ promotion to Assistant Commissioner.

He said the disclosure was made without the knowledge or consent of the victim.

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“... it will ultimately go to the key issue you have to resolve as to whether the sexual relations were consensual or not,” he said.

The trial continues before Justice John Burns tomorrow and is due to run for four weeks with Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker and MLA Kezia Purick expected to give evidence.

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