Accused changed story, jury told

A FORMER church pastor accused of raping his much younger wife initially told police he hadn’t had sex with her on the night in question, a court has heard.

But the man, aged in his 60s, yesterday gave evidence in his Supreme Court trial in Launceston, saying he actually had consensual sex with his wife on June 16 last year, having surprised her with flowers earlier that day as a “peacemaking offering”.

The Crown alleges the man had been controlling and abusive towards his wife and that she had already made it clear she did not want to be intimate with him while they dealt with their marital problems.

The court previously heard the woman rebuffed his sexual advances that night even though he had given her the flowers, after which the husband placed his hands around her neck, told her he could do what he wanted, and then had intercourse with her.

However, the husband denied many of the allegations of abuse levelled against him, including that he had once thrown a book at his wife and that he regularly insulted her appearance.

He told the court that differences in their parenting styles were the main source of tension between them, saying his wife had yelled at the children and used corporal punishment to discipline them.

The man said he initially gave police a different account of the night because he was exhausted and in “shock”.

In closing the Crown case, prosecutor Linda Mason SC told the jury the relationship was one with a significant power imbalance and that the rape was the reaction of a husband whose wife had begun to challenge his control of her.

The court had heard the man first met the complainant, with whom he now has three children, while he was still married to his previous wife.

“She was a teenager and was part of a youth group and I didn’t have much to do with her until she came into the home when both my wife and I were foster carers,” the man told the court.

The man’s three children from his previous relationship were also all older than the complainant and he was the sole income earner, while the woman stayed home to look after the children.

However, defence lawyer Garth Stevens said the complainant was an “articulate, intelligent woman” who was “capable of making her own decisions” in the relationship.

Mr Stevens said the woman had been seeking to separate from her husband, having already lodged a police complaint about an assault from several months earlier, and may have been “reluctant” to have sex with him on the night of the alleged rape “but she consents”.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations today.