‘ I could see she was scared’

A TOWNSVILLE man is on trial after he allegedly went to his ex- partner’s house in the early hours of the morning and raped her intellectually disabled daughter.

A friend of the woman’s mother allegedly slept through the rape, curled in a ball at the end of her single bed.

The man pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape in Townsville District Court on Monday.

Crown prosecutor Skye Jerome said the alleged victim, then 24, had the intellectual age of a six or seven- year- old as well as a limp and limited use of her left arm.

She said on the night of May 30, 2014, the alleged victim’s mother and friend went out drinking. The friend returned and slept at the end of a single mattress in the lounge room, where the alleged victim typically slept.

Ms Jerome said that at 4am, a 13- year- old boy in the house saw the defendant “march” into the house and ask where his ex- partner was.

“He saw the defendant firstly hop on to the bottom end of that mattress and then moments later got on top of ( the alleged victim),” she said.

“He saw the defendant put his hand over ( her) and she tried to pull away.”

During the trial the mother’s friend told the court that when she woke, the alleged victim was crouching on a chair, behind a curtain.

“It was strange because I’d never actually seen her sitting like that,” she said.

“I could see she was upset and scared.”

Ms Jerome said that morning, the alleged victim phoned her mother, who was still out, and said she had been raped.

Defence barrister Edward Bassett said the man might have acted under the honest and reasonable belief that the alleged victim was his ex- partner and she was consenting.

“You’ve seen ( the mother) and ( her daughter), they look similar, there is no great disparity in size, height, anything like that,” he said.

“It’s clear on all the evidence he was looking for ( the mother). ( He said) ‘( The mother) is that you?’ and a voice from a dark room says ‘ yes’.”

During the trial a forensic nurse told the court the alleged victim was medically examined and had a half- centimetre injury to her vagina.

Mr Bassett said the injury was on the outside of the vagina and there was no way to tell how old it was.

“You might think your common experience would tell you that a mark like that can be caused in any number of ways,” he said.

The jury was sent out to deliberate yesterday afternoon and will continue this morning.