Sex worker rape denied

A MAN has denied donning a balaclava and raping a sex worker at a Cairns motel.

The Cairns District Court was told that the man had met the sex worker in November 2015 when he had consensual sex with her for money or drugs.

“Yes … you will hear (the complainant) is a drug user … ice,” Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees told the six-man, sixwoman jury.

“She will tell you that the accused even took her out for dinner. He paid her drug debt.”

Mr Rees said this annoyed the woman as she felt he wanted something more, adding that the man had allegedly asked if they could be “(expletive) buddies”.

The court was told that the last time she had consensual sex with the man was about five days before the alleged rape.

She had been staying at the Bohemia Resort Cairns on McLeod St. The court was told that she had not told the man where she had been staying.

Mr Rees told the court that on about November 20 she opened her room door to a knock and a man wearing black tracksuit pants, a black hoodie, a balaclava and sun glasses forced her to the ground “telling her not to scream or he would kill her”.

She was allegedly bound and gagged by the man, and then allegedly raped before he left the room.

The man has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and one count of burglary.

The court was told that the man’s DNA was on a pillowcase from the room and that police found black tracksuit pants and a black hoodie at his home.

The trial, under Judge Dean Morzone, continues today.