Teen rape victim hid under bed when accused’s partner came to hotel room

UPDATE: On September 19, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided to withdraw charges against Christopher Pugh and he was discharged of the five offences

A teenage girl who had just been raped in a Brisbane motel room had to hide under the bed when the partner of the 42-year-old alleged rapist turned up, a court has heard.

In August 2020, Christopher Jacob Pugh picked the girl up in Brisbane’s north, took her to a McDonald’s and the girl then asked him to take her home.

The victim has given evidence at the trial behind closed doors. (File image)Credit: Alamy

Instead, Pugh allegedly gave her methamphetamine and took her to a hotel in Brisbane’s south.

Crown prosecutor Carla Ahern said once at the motel, the alleged victim sat on the bed and plugged her phone in to charge.

“[Pugh] then started touching her back and thighs. She tried to move his hand away and ask what he was doing. The defendant smiled, and she [victim] checked her phone, but the defendant told her to come to bed and tried to feed her more drugs,” Ahern said.

She initially resisted Pugh’s allegedly repeated offers for her to smoke more methamphetamine, but eventually, she did.

“He then resumed touching her and pulled down her pants and underwear, which he smiled at. She closed her eyes, hoping he would stop,” Ahern said.

The man then allegedly had sex with the teenager.

“The complainant describes that the rape stopped once the defendant’s partner arrived at the motel. She pulled her pants back up and hid under the bed.”

The court heard the accused’s partner had woken up and found he was not in the bed with her, so she rang him, and he told her where he was, leading to her going to the motel.

Ahern said the accused, his partner and the victim later went to a hotel in Mount Ommaney in Brisbane’s south-west. The partner stayed with them, but was not with them all day.

The prosecution alleged that when the man’s partner had left the hotel temporarily, he again persuaded the girl to take more methamphetamine, which he injected.

Then, while she “described feeling ill and nauseous”, he then allegedly pulled down her pants and underwear and raped her again.

Pugh later dropped the victim at a Logan shopping centre where she had arranged to meet a friend.

The judge-only trial, under Judge Peter Davis, was set to run for six days.

The victim has given evidence at the trial in a closed courtroom.