WOMAN TEARFUL, BRUISED BY CHEF
A YOUNG chef has denied raping a woman twice inside his Corio home.
Daryl Tarlit was 19 when he allegedly raped the woman on separate occasions in 2014.
Mr Tarlit, now 24, formally pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape at the start of a trial in the Geelong County Court yesterday.
Prosecutors allege the man had sex with the woman without her consent during incidents that took place in May 2014 and sometime between June and August of the same year.
Mr Tarlit has maintained the sex was consensual on both occasions.
In an opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Nick Batten said it would be alleged the first incident happened after the woman “repeatedly” declined the accused man’s sexual advances.
“Mr Tarlit said he wanted sex. She said no . . . but he was persistent about it,” Mr Batten said.
“I expect the (complainant’s) evidence will be that he physically held her down and proceeded to sexually penetrate her without her consent.”
He said the woman was crying during the incident and that she was left with bruises on her thigh.
It is alleged Mr Tarlit made similar unwanted advances towards the complainant during a later incident.
“She said no and, again, he persisted,” Mr Batten said.
“He said to her words to the effect of: ‘I’m going to have sex with you.’
“She didn’t want to have sex but allowed him to do so due to some fear of him, given what occurred to her in May.”
The court heard the complainant did not report the alleged rapes to police until mid-2016, when an investigation was launched.
The defendant was interviewed a short time later and denied the allegations.
Defence barrister Tony Lavery, for Mr Tarlit, argued that the woman at the centre of the case had not provided an accurate account of what had happened.
“It is the defence that, on all occasions, their sexual interactions were consensual,” Mr Lavery told the jury. “What she’s alleging is untruthful.”
The trial is expected to run for more than a week, with five witnesses to be called to give evidence