Rape trial underway in Supreme Court in Burnie

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: A former home based care worker says he knew it was wrong to engage in oral sex on the job but his client had allegedly requested it.

UPDATE. 8:30am, September 8: A jury in Burnie’s Supreme Court of Tasmania last night found Thomas Joseph Gardam not guilty of rape.

Disability worker charged with rape denies he took advantage of client – September 7

A DISABILITY support worker standing trial on a charge of rape has denied he saw his client as an “easy target” when he engaged in what he told police was consensual oral sex.

Thomas Joseph Gardam has pleaded not guilty to rape and is standing trial in the Supreme Court in Burnie.

The charge stems from September 3, 2018 when he was in the alleged victim’s unit helping him prepare dinner. In evidence his client claimed his carer later forced him into the bedroom and gave him oral sex by force.

The client also told the jury his carer then told him to stay quiet about what had happened.

Gardam told police in an interview the day after the alleged crime his client had been asking him questions about sexuality saying he wanted to figure his feelings out.

In the interview, which was played to the jury, Gardam claimed his client had asked for a hand job and then for oral sex and that he had reluctantly complied.

The Burnie court complex.

Gardam agreed with an assertion made by police in that interview that he had crossed the line in his role as carer.

“If any of your other clients asked for oral sex would you do it,? Gardam was asked.

”No,” he said. “He was asking me questions about sexuality. It was both our ideas and he said he was 100 per cent comfortable with it.,”

The support worker, who has since left the care sector, also told police he was worried his client would become violent if he refused his request for sex – despite him not showing any inclination towards violence in their other dealings.

“I knew I shouldn’t be doing it. But he had shown me a knife he kept in a cupboard earlier and kept looking at the cupboard when I said we had to stop,” Gardam told police.

The mother of the client’s then girlfriend gave evidence that the alleged victim was shaking and visibly upset when he had arrived at her house after the alleged rape.

"You could see he had been crying and he looked shaky,” she told the court.

“He told me he had been sexually assaulted.”

The woman gave evidence she took the man to the police station where he reported the alleged rape.

The trial continues.

Court told support worker forced oral sex on client

A DISABILITY support worker is standing trial after being accused of raping the young man he helped to cook and clean at his Burnie unit.

Thomas Joseph Gardam has pleaded not guilty to a charge of rape relating to an allegation he performed oral sex on his client without his client’s consent.

The alleged victim was attending college at the time and living in a complex of units where National Disability Insurance Scheme support workers were on hand 24 hours a day.

Giving evidence in the Supreme Court in Burnie on Monday, the man, who has an intellectual disability, said Gardam had told him to keep his mouth shut about the incident when it was over.

He told the court his carer also inferred they would have sex the next time he looked after him.

The jury heard the pair had prepared a meal in the unit that afternoon.

“Then he asked if he could give me head. I said no thank you. He then grabbed me by the arm and forced me into the bedroom,” the man said in evidence.

“He forced me onto the bed and took my clothes off. I tried to fight him off but could not.

“I was telling him to f**k off so he covered my mouth and was choking me. I was struggling to breathe and found it hard to talk after then.”

The alleged victim needed several breaks from giving evidence because he became distraught.

He told the court that after the alleged rape, his carer took him to his girlfriend’s house.

There he told his girlfriend’s mother what happened and she encouraged him to make a report to the police.

Under cross examination, the young man said his carer had never been aggressive towards him or made him feel uncomfortable before that day in September, 2018.

Gardam’s defence counsel said there was no argument oral sex had occurred in that unit on the day in question.

“There is argument about consent. I say this witness is not reliable or credible,” he told the jury.