Man accused of rape

A THOMSON man has denied raping and sexually assaulting a woman with Down syndrome minutes after approaching her near Geelong’s Moorabool St bus interchange.

But Russell James Clissold, 70, admits he did grope, fondle, kiss, hug and thrust his pelvis into the woman, who has a significant intellectual impairment and is almost 30 years younger than him.

The nature of the encounter on a Tuesday in September 2016 and whether the woman consented, or had the capacity to consent, loom as key issues in a County Court trial that started in Melbourne yesterday.

Mr Clissold has pleaded not

The jury heard the woman’s DNA was found on Mr Clissold’s bed sheets and in his car, and his was located on her underpants and breasts.

But Mr Sullivan said the defendant’s case was that she “responded and consented to the touching”, and the forensic evidence was consistent with what he said had happened.

The Crown will rely on her carers and an independent neuropsychologist to mount its case the woman did not understand sex, was incapable of freely agreeing and that Mr Clissold preyed on her naivety for his own gratification.

“You’ll know when you see (her evidence),” Mr Shaw told the jurors. “It is blatantly apparent she has a cognitive impairment the moment you see her and hear her talk.”