Rape accused claims prior sex consent
A MAN charged with raping his teen neighbour and asking his former wife to lie to police about it has claimed there was a history of consensual sex between him and the girl.
The 51-year-old northern Tasmanian man, who cannot be identified, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and one count of perverting the course of justice.
Giving evidence in his own defence in the Supreme Court in Launceston under Justice Michael Brett, the man also denied the allegation that he asked his former wife to lie to police about the sexual encounters.
The accused and his alleged victim were next-door neighbours in a Launceston suburb in the 1990s and the alleged rapes took place in early 1995, when he was 27 and she was 16.
Being questioned by defence barrister Greg Richardson, the accused agreed that the girl — who is now 40 — accompanied him and his wife and children to stay for a weekend at their new home at Frankford shortly after they moved in.
And while he did not dispute that he and the girl had sex on three occasions over the course of that weekend he said she was a willing participant and consented each time.
He also claimed they had sex on two other occasions before that weekend, including once in his Launceston home just two weeks after the girl’s 16th birthday, which he says were also consensual.
He described her as “a very nice girl” who “flirted a lot with me”.
During cross examination, crown prosecutor John Ransom asked the accused if he was concerned about the flirtatiousness of such a young girl, and why he never mentioned it to her parents, to which the accused responded that he did not feel concerned and generally thought little of it. “She was at an age where she could make her own decisions,” the accused said. “I was not taking advantage of her.”
The accused said he confessed the sex acts to his wife some time after they happened, but denied later asking her to withhold that information from police.
The jury is expected to be offered an alternative verdict of having sex with a person under 17, which they may apply if unable to reach a verdict on the three counts of rape.
In his closing comments Mr Ransom said the accused would be guilty of the alternative charges by his own evidence, as he never disputed having sex with the girl.
But Mr Richardson said the alleged victim was an unreliable witness, accusing her of lying in evidence, and saying it was reasonable to believe she consented. The jury is expected to retire tomorrow to consider its verdict.