Rape accused takes stand

23-y-o claims sex with woman was consensual

A 23-YEAR-OLD man accused of repeatedly raping a woman after a party in Toowoomba has taken the witness stand in his trial to deny the allegations.

Mikeal Shayne Kobi Albury-Brady has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and one count of indecent assault arising from alleged incidents in the early morning of September 28 last year at the woman’s home.

The court heard the complainant woman had become friends with Albury-Brady’s then girlfriend and all had been at a party at AlburyBrady’s girlfriend’s home the previous night.

Opening the defence case, Albury-Brady’s barrister Shane MacDonald told the court though his client and his girlfriend were having sex they were not in an exclusive relationship at that point and he was having sex with another woman as well.

However, during the night of the party when all had been drinking alcohol, his client would say he and the complainant woman had been “making eye contact” with each other.

He said the pair had swapped Snapchat numbers earlier and had some time before been matched on Tinder but he had not met her until just before the party.

At the end of the evening, about 1am, the complainant had gone home and his client’s girlfriend had gone to bed.

Not long after, his client received a message from the complainant saying she needed him to come over to her home and that she had organised an Uber for him.

“He said he’d wake up (girlfriend) but she (complainant) had said not to wake her as she was suspicious because they’d matched on Tinder,” Mr MacDonald said.

His client had then gone to the woman’s home where they mixed and drank a drink on the couch before she stood up saying “It’s bed time”.

Mr MacDonald said his client would say he and the woman then had sex a number of times and that the sex had become a little rough at one point but “nothing forceful”.

However, Albury-Brady would tell the jury that everything that happened between the pair that morning was consensual.

His client claimed the woman told him that if he deleted the messages between them that night they could hook up again.

Mr MacDonald said his client claimed the woman told him to have a shower and he left in a Uber and as he left she had said “I’ve got collateral on you.”

The trial before Chief Judge Brian Devereaux will continue in the Toowoomba District Court on Wednesday.