‘I would’ve stopped’

THE man accused of raping a woman after a Triple J Hottest 100 party said he would have stopped if he heard her whimper or wince, a court has been told.

Harley Gene Lewis, 26, has pleaded not guilty in the Southport District Court to one count each of rape and sexual assault.

Lewis took the stand before a jury of seven women and five men to tell his version of what happened after a party about 4am on January 27 last year.

During the three-day trial it has been alleged that he picked the woman up, took her to a bedroom, tied her hands up, put a hand over her throat and squeezed before raping her. When asked if he heard her whimper or saw her wince, he replied: “No, not at all. If that would have been the case I would have stopped.”

Crown prosecutor Sarah Lio-Willie asked if he had asked the woman if it was OK with what he was going to do.

“When you are having sex with someone you don’t say do this please … you just feel it out,” Lewis replied. “You don’t stop someone and say ‘hey, is it OK if I do this?’”

The pair had met on the Australia Day afternoon and Lewis admitted he was attracted to her. They were the last two at the party and were alone for about two hours before the sexual encounter.

“It was a long time … the conversation was flowing … it didn’t seem like a long time at that stage,” Lewis told the jury.

He said when he went to the door after the woman had gone to the toilet, the woman smiled and jumped up on to his stomach.

He said he decided to tie her hands up after an earlier conversations about their previous sexual conversations. “I pulled the drawstring out of my pants … I asked her if it was OK and she said ‘yes’,” Lewis said.

When asked about why he had such a clear recollection of the pair’s sexual conversations 18 months after the alleged incident, Lewis replied: “Once you wake up the next morning accused of such an horrendous thing that just sticks in your mind.”

The trial continues today.