Dave Hanna ‘violated helpless woman’: prosecution

Prosecutors say Dave Hanna’s recollection of a sexual encounter is “at complete odds with the rest of the evidence in the case”.

Former union boss Dave Hanna arrives at the District Court in Brisbane. Picture: AAP

Prosecutors say former top Labor and union official Dave Hanna “sexually violated” a “helpless” woman he met briefly at a Brisbane bar in 2017 without her consent and that his recollection of the sexual encounter was “at complete odds with the rest of the evidence in the case”.

Mr Hanna’s lawyers say the woman he is accused of raping agreed to have sex with him but later regretted her decision and had reconstructed a version of events in her mind.

In closing arguments today during Mr Hanna’s trial for allegedly raping and filming the woman’s genitalia in breach of her privacy, crown prosecutor Michael Lehane said the alleged victim, then aged 30, was heavily intoxicated and lacked the cognitive capacity to consent to sex or did not consent.

“She was essentially helpless and at the accused’s mercy and he simply did the opposite,” Mr Lehane told the jury.

“He treated her in a degrading and humiliating way, acting without her consent.”

Mr Hanna’s barrister Mark McCarthy said his client’s evidence that the woman was an “enthusiastic and active participant” in the sexual encounter was supported by evidence presented throughout the trial, which has been going since Monday.

Mr McCarthy said the woman had changed her evidence throughout her testimony.

“She has guessed, she has speculated, she has assumed,” he said.

“She has tried to put together a story in circumstances where at the start she doesn’t have a clear picture.”

Mr McCarthy said that when it came to consent, it did not matter if the person who gave it did not remember doing so.

“She honestly doesn’t remember key details,” he said.

“Just because a witness says I didn’t consent, doesn’t prove the question.”

Mr McCarthy said the woman had been capable of making decisions throughout the night, as shown by evidence, such as directing a taxi to her unit complex, warning Mr Hanna about her dog, texting her friends about feeling uncomfortable and saying to Mr Hanna to “put something on” if he was going to have sex with her.

“She made a series of decisions: you get drunk, you lose your keys and you take somebody home and you wind up in bed with them, you might later think that’s a series of bad decisions,” he said.

“But that doesn’t mean you didn’t consent, the fact that you regret it the next day the fact that you reconstruct a version the next day where it’s not your fault doesn’t mean it was the other person’s fault.”

Mr Lehane said it was “quite ridiculous” for Mr Hanna to assert that the woman consented to sex and having videos taken of her while she was naked.

“It is self-evident from those two videos that the victim doesn’t seem to be reacting in any way,” he said.

“When the photo is taken at 3.41am, (the victim) is clearly unconscious.

“In no way is that a ‘sexy pose’ as the accused has claimed.

“She’s out to it.

“He sexually violated her in various ways without her consent.”

Mr Hanna is charged with three counts of rape and one count of filming the woman’s genitalia in breach of her privacy.

The jury has retired and is considering its verdict.