Jury to soon deliberate over alleged Jane Franklin Hall assault

A jury will soon begin deliberating over whether a sleeping woman was sexually assaulted on the grounds of university residential college. LATEST FROM THE TRIAL >>

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A JURY will soon begin deliberating over whether a sleeping woman was sexually assaulted on the grounds of university residential college, Jane Franklin Hall.

Jordan Peter Poland, 25, is currently standing trial in the Supreme Court of Tasmania after denying he touched a “distressed, stranded, vulnerable” Melbourne tourist in his dorm room without her consent in May 2017.

On Wednesday, the jury was played two recorded interviews between Mr Poland and Tasmania Police in March the following year.

A recorded phone call between the young woman and Mr Poland was also played, in which he says “yeah sorry, that’s really bad on my part” and “you weren’t really wanting it”.

But his defence barrister Kate Cuthbertson, in her closing address to the jury, argued Mr Poland only apologised because “he was raised well” and “whether you did the wrong thing or not, you apologised” – not because he thought he’d actually assaulted her.

She said as soon as the woman had indicated she didn’t want to be touched, Mr Poland had pulled his hand away.

“His behaviour that night had been impeccable,” Ms Cuthbertson said.

She argued the young woman had embellished her evidence.

“The physical touching occurred in circumstances where (the woman) signalled her consent or Mr Poland genuinely believed she was signalling her consent,” the lawyer said.

Mr Poland, in the videos, told police the young woman had seemed to make noises and movements that conveyed consent before she “lightly touched my hand to move it away – and I took my hand away”.

But Crown prosecutor Mick Allen, in his closing address, said Mr Poland “knows, he knows very well … he never had her consent”.

“Nothing he was doing was expected, agreed or invited,” Mr Allen said.

“She said when she woke up, she froze when she realised.

“His explanation – that he was apologising for something he didn’t do – is nonsense. This is a very serious allegation.

“There was never consent given, ever.”

He also argued Mr Allen didn’t take reasonable steps to ascertain whether the woman was consenting.

Ms Cuthbertson will complete her closing address to the jury on Thursday before deliberations begin.

‘I was asleep’: Woman breaks down during sexual assault trial - Tuesday, July 6

A YOUNG woman who claims was sexually assaulted while she slept by a Jane Franklin Hall resident has tearfully denied she had been “cuddling and spooning” with her alleged assailant.

In the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Tuesday, the Melbourne woman wept and repeated “no, that’s not true” during cross-examination by defence barrister Kate Cuthbertson.

Jordan Peter Poland, 25, is currently on trial after pleading not guilty to one count of aggravated assaulted that allegedly occurred in his dorm room in May 2017.

The young woman had been holidaying in Hobart, but said her trip was marred by an “awful night” in which she had a beer glass thrown at her head and was later chased through Battery Point by a former friend with a kitchen knife.

She said Tasmania Police seemed uninterested in her situation and that she’d sat down on Hampden Road and cried until she was approached by a “very friendly” Mr Poland, who offered her a place to stay at his student dorm.

On Tuesday, before a jury and Acting Justice Shane Marshall, the woman denied suggestions by Ms Cuthbertson that she’d gotten changed into her nightdress in front of Mr Poland.

She also denied “there was some playful to-ing and fro-ing with the sleeping bag and some wrestling”.

“You both went to sleep together in the same bed … there was cuddling and spooning before you went to sleep,” Ms Cuthbertson suggested.

“No, that’s not true,” the woman replied to each suggestion, before becoming visibly distressed and crying.

“I was asleep.”

One of the woman’s friends gave evidence via video link from Melbourne, saying her friend “was distressed” when relaying details of her trip to Hobart.

“When she woke up, the guy was sexually assaulting her,” the friend said.

“She said she woke up to this.”

Mr Poland denies he touched the woman without her consent.

The trial continues.

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