Gun used in rape, trial told

A BRAZILIAN teenager was raped at gunpoint in a Gold Coast toilet block after being picked up from the side of a road, a court was told.

Jason Haines, 53, pleaded not guilty in the Southport District Court yesterday to rape and sexual assault.

The jury of seven men and five women was told the then 16-year-old was visiting the Gold Coast to attend school and was walking along a Gold Coast street in the early hours of December 13, 2007.

Police went to speak with Haines at his home on May 16, 2017, the court was told.

It is alleged Haines, who was 41 at the time of the alleged attack, picked up the boy, took him to two separate public toilets at Mermaid Waters, threatened him with a gun and forced him to perform a sex act on him.

The teen saw an opportunity to escape and ran.

The boy’s homestay mother told the court the teen spoke to her at home later.

“He was very traumatised … crying,” she said.

“He was terrified to tell me what happened to him.”

The boy had been “shaking and spitting’’, she said. He had wanted to shower and clean his teeth.

The woman said the boy was too scared to speak to police but she convinced him to make a call anonymously.

The boy had stayed with the woman for about 12 months while on student exchange.

The court was told the next day the boy spoke to a friend, who was another homestay mother, who convinced him to go to police.

That woman told the court the boy told her something “terrible” had happened to him.

She said the teen did not go into detail about what had happened but she took him to police that day.

The woman told the court time was essential as the boy was returning to Brazil the next day.

It is alleged the boy gave police a T-shirt and boxer shorts he was wearing the night of the attack.

Haines’ DNA was allegedly found on the boxer shorts waist band, the court heard.

The court was told it was possible for someone’s DNA to be transferred to an item without that person touching an item.

The trial continues today.