Eddie Elia Comi Dap Epseg not guilty on four charges of rape, hung jury on five charges

A Cairns rugby league player who pleaded not guilty to eight charges of rape and one charge of choking was found not guilty on four charges as an arduous five-day trial culminated on Friday afternoon.

Eddie Epseg leaves the Cairns Court House. Picture: Brendan Radke

A Cairns rugby league player who pleaded not guilty to eight charges of rape and one charge of choking was found not guilty on four charges as an arduous five day trial culminated on Friday afternoon.

Eddie Elia Comi Dap Epseg pleaded not guilty on Monday morning before Judge Tracy Fantin over the incident that happened on August 1, 2022, at the woman’s home in Cairns.

Mr Epseg did not deny any part of the four-hour incident but said he believed it was consensual, his barrister Joseph Jacobs told the court.

He was tried last September on the same charges with the case ending in a hung jury.

The court was closed for almost all of Tuesday and Wednesday as the woman’s prerecorded evidence and extensive cross examination was played to the jury.

The court heard Mr Epseg bound and blindfolded the woman and told her “I’m a porn star, I’m a monster, don’t call me Eddie, call me X”.

The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating on Thursday morning, sending three notes from the jury room before a note saying they’d agreed on three counts but not the remaining six.

Judge Fantin took the not guilty verdicts on three counts of rape.

She directed the jury to return deliberating with the aim of reaching a majority verdict on the remaining five charges.

Soon afterwards, the jury delivered a note saying they had a unanimous decision on another count of rape, and that decision was not guilty, but that they would be unable to reach a majority verdict on the other five charges.

These included that Mr Epseg allegedly choked the woman by putting his fingers, then his hand, inside her mouth for much of the incident, that he penetrated her in multiple places and with objects.

During the trial, Mr Jacobs asked the jury to consider why the woman did not call out during the incident.

But Crown Prosecutor Rachel Boivin said with Mr Epseg’s hand in her mouth, the woman could not speak, was choking on her own bile and feared she might die.

Mr Jacobs asked why the woman would do the washing, go for lunch, take a nap, and send Mr Epseg texts later that evening if she believed she had been raped multiple times.

Ms Boivin, in her closing address, said the woman was processing and trying to understand what had happened.

“He does not deny he did those things to her, he did those things she said he did, he said he had her consent, she was a willing participant, or he was of the mistaken belief that she was,” Ms Boivin said.

“Consent must be given freely and voluntarily.”

Judge Fantin advised the jury there was a free and confidential counselling service available to them.

Originally published as Eddie Elia Comi Dap Epseg not guilty on four charges of rape, hung jury on five charges