Husband accused of rape

Court hears man imposed strict rules on wife

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 A COURT has heard how a churchgoing husband, accused of raping his wife, enforced such strict rules in their Launceston home that he even made her get rid of her Harry Potter books because they were about magic and mythical creatures.

The man in his 60s, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to raping his wife at their home on a Saturday night in June last year. The woman gave evidence at his trial in the Supreme Court in Launceston yesterday.

She said her husband would frequently belittle her about her appearance, parenting and housekeeping.

The court heard the couple was part of a church group, and it was while on a women’s retreat with fellow churchgoers that the woman began to realise aspects of her relationship were not normal.

“He would decide, like, what materials came to our house, like books and movies and things we could watch on TV,” she told the court.

She confided in friends from church and a counsellor about the abuse she was experiencing at home, including how her husband would pressure her to have sex, even though she no longer felt comfortable doing so.

She told the court that she would try to avoid intimacy with him, and that “there were times I just wasn’t going to bed at night”.

The court heard the man’s controlling behaviour and anger towards the woman escalated after they began couple’s counselling and that he would often warn her that her pre-existing mental health issues were the cause of the problems in the relationship.

The woman said that her husband told her that she would be “committed to a psych ward and the children would be taken from us” if she revealed details of their relationship.

But on the day he allegedly raped his wife, the court heard the man came home with flowers he had bought for her as a gift. Later that night, he climbed into bed with her and tried to initiate sex.

“I said to him, ‘stop, I want to go to sleep’,” the woman told the court.

The man persisted, telling her “I bought you flowers today” before placing his hands around her neck, saying, “you are my wife and I can do whatever I want” and proceeding to penetrate her.

The trial, before Justice Michael Brett, continues.