A former international rugby player and another man have been found not guilty of "acting together" to rape a woman at a Canberra motel.
On Wednesday morning, jurors acquitted Paula Fala Kata, 35, of sexual intercourse without consent in company and sexual intercourse without consent, following a six-day ACT Supreme Court trial.
His partner, who sat in the public gallery throughout proceedings, wiped away tears after the verdicts were delivered.
Mr Kata previously represented Tonga in rugby union.
According to an ESPN player profile, the man played four matches for the Polynesian nation between 2009 and 2010.
A few hours later, jurors returned verdicts for the second man, Seti Palei Moala, 28, finding him not guilty of sexual intercourse without consent in company and two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
The jury found him guilty of a choking charge.
"There is a spectre of the jury's verdict [for Moala] being potentially inconsistent," defence lawyer Edward Chen said during the man's bail application later in the afternoon.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum revoked Moala's bail due to the man's "flight risk", his lack of ties to Sydney or Canberra, and "the seriousness of the offence for which he has been found guilty".
Among multiple pieces of forensic evidence, jurors heard how a doctor observed red marks on the woman's neck "consistent with an episode of non-fatal strangulation".
The alleged victim also presented with a "cluster of four bruises" on her arm, decreasing in size "like fingertips", which she claims were the result of being restrained.
The two men were accused of "acting together" and raping the woman at Lyneham Motor Inn in the early hours of April 3, 2022, after she had fallen asleep.
Parties agreed on numerous aspects of the morning in question, including that Mr Kata and the victim met and "hooked up" at Fiction nightclub in Civic before returning to the motel and having consensual sex.
Jurors were shown CCTV of Mr Kata and the woman kissing, dancing and drinking together at the nightclub, and told how the pair came home with two friends.
Giving evidence through an interpreter last week, M Kata said he only approached the woman at the nightclub because she made "eye contact" with him and told him to come over with her "body language".
"You're trying to downplay your interest in [the woman] when you first met her," prosecutor Melanie O'Connell said during cross examination.
"No, ma'am," Mr Kata responded.
"She was still too annoying to me and I knew if I didn't have sex with her she will keep urging me, annoying me."
Ms O'Connell said Mr Kata was attempting to paint the woman as the "sexual aggressor".
"I made an oath on the bible to tell the truth and I'm not making things up here," the man said.
Mr Kata denied several alleged facts put to him by the prosecutor, including that he initiated the sexual intercourse or that he undressed the woman.
He denied then joining Moala in allegedly raping the woman after the second man returned to the motel later that morning.
Moala was accused of repeatedly calling himself "Spider-Man" while he sexually assaulted the woman, who claimed she woke up with the man on top of her and restraining her.
Body-worn camera footage of police first speaking with the woman was played in court.
"I tried to push them off," the woman told an officer.
"I'm someone's mother. I'm someone's daughter. I'm a human being."
In their closing addresses, defence lawyers for both men asked jurors to be "dispassionate" in their assessment of the evidence presented throughout the trial.
The lawyers also questioned why two other men present in the room at the time of the alleged incident would lie to the court about whether they had witnessed a woman being raped by their friends.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525.
