Rape accused breaks down

THE man accused of raping and assaulting a woman broke down in tears in Cairns District Court as he described the impact the charges had on his family relationships.

Emmanuel James Anning, 36, has pleaded not guilty to rape and assault occasioning bodily harm in an incident alleged to have taken place in Cairns in April 2022.

Taking the stand, Mr Anning’s version of events conflicted with what the woman has alleged. He has denied anything other than a consensual kiss occurred in the car.

Prosecutor Matt Hancock told jurors that when driving the woman to get her phone from a property, Mr Anning pulled out his penis, tried to kiss the woman, and became angry and began driving erratically when she laughed it off.

Mr Hancock alleged he pulled out his penis again and said “suck it” and she did, and that when she tried to grab the keys from the ignition, he punched her in the face.

Mr Anning said the pair wrestled over the keys, but he did not punch her.

“After I got the keys I felt bad for manhandling her, wrestling her, I just wanted to go home,” Mr Anning said.

He said when the woman got out of the car she was crying on the phone and telling someone she had been hit and this upset him, and he went back to her house to tell the others “the truth”.

When confronted by the woman and another person, he got out a machete.

“That was the stupidest thing I have ever done, I am not proud of it, I didn’t swing it,” he said.

Mr Anning said he slapped the woman, as she was shoving him.

“I’ve got my family, I don’t want all this to be a big drama, a story like that, that I even hit a woman, even worse, that I raped a woman … my mother, my sisters, I have a daughter,” an emotional Mr Anning said.

“My whole family is involved in this, as you can see, no one is here for me,” he said.

Defence barrister Michael Dalton told the jury the woman drank a bit more alcohol than she said she did, and told police she climbed out the window of the car.

“There was no rape and nor was there punching,” Mr Dalton said.

“He didn’t try to hide anything, he didn’t try to downplay his own bad behaviour,” Mr Dalton said, adding that it was consistent with evidence given by another witness.

“It’s a complete fantasy, it didn’t happen,” he said.

Prosecutor Matt Hancock said inconsistencies in evidence were “minute and irrelevant after all this time”.

“It is clear that his penis penetrated her mouth and this evidence did not change during her cross-examination,” Mr Hancock said.

He quoted the woman’s evidence: “I didn’t think I had a choice, I was locked in the car, I didn’t know what to do, I put my mouth over his penis for like, two seconds”.

The trial before Judge Dean Morzone, KC, continues.