A woman did not have her drink spiked by a high-profile Sydney man but was instead feeling the effects of MDMA that was “just too strong for her”, a court has heard.
The man’s defence lawyer asserted that a “special drink” the man gave the woman was not spiked as suggested by the crown, adding the expert witness who gave evidence that it could be the case suggested this on the basis of the woman’s story and not a toxicology report.
“It’s not proof of anything,” David Scully SC told the court. He said what she experienced was “completely explained” by MDMA that “knocked her about”.
“[She] thought of herself as a bit of a drug user, but this [MDMA] was a different league, ladies and gentleman,” Scully said.
The man, who Guardian Australia cannot name because of a suppression order, is facing trial after pleading not guilty to nine charges – including five counts of rape – alleged to have occurred over a six-year period against five women on separate occasions.
The crown argued the man had a tendency to carry out sexual conduct with usually much younger women, knowing that they did not consent or that he was reckless to their consent.
The man’s defence argued he did have sex with the four women who have alleged he raped them, but that it was consensual, “not in the circumstances alleged by the crown”, and that the complainants “admired the accused, even idolised him”.
Whether or not the woman known as complainant two had her drink spiked with the suggested GHB is not the subject of a charge. The accused is facing an indecent assault charge after the woman woke up in his bed, both of them naked, and he allegedly then touched her bare breast.
The court heard the complainant said the night before, after feeling overwhelmed and dehydrated, she asked the accused for a drink of water. She alleges he gave it to her in a martini glass and said: “Here’s your special drink”.
Scully told the court the complainant did not tell police in her first two statements about being handed a “special drink”.
“You have to ask yourself,” Scully said to the jury, “is this special drink evidence a complete and utter lie that she’s added later?”
Scully argued the accused did not touch her breast, and that the accused showed no sexual interest in her.
Complainant three
Scully on Friday concluded his closing argument after turning to the remaining complainants and arguing their evidence was not reliable or credible.
For complainant three, the accused is alleged to have raped her after they had two prior sexual encounters. The woman, who was 19 at the time and the accused in his mid-30s, told the court the first two sexual encounters were not allegations that there was no consent, but that she closed her eyes, waited for it to be over and did not reciprocate in “anyway”.
But Scully told the court that a video filmed during the first sexual encounter, which complainant three said was filmed without her knowledge or consent, showed that her account was “divorced from reality”. The video, he said, showed her reciprocating and “moaning in pleasure”.
“Thank goodness the accused had that video … It shows she is completely and utterly deluded,” Scully said.
He suggested that because the complainant, who alleged the accused groomed her, had lied about the first sexual encounter, it put in doubt her version of events during the alleged rape.
The crown put to the court that the accused made an admission he allegedly raped her during a text exchange, where he apologised for putting her in an “uncomfortable position” and said “I wish I could take it back”, after she said she had said “no” during the sexual encounter.
However, Scully asserted it came in a string of messages where he was apologising for a number of different things to do with their relationship.
Complainant four
Scully asserted a number of times throughout his closing argument the accused’s behaviour wasn’t necessarily “moral”. But, he said, this was a “criminal trial” and not a “court of morals”.
He again brought up morals during his closing argument for the fourth complainant’s evidence, for which the accused is facing two counts of rape that are alleged to have occurred during the same sexual encounter.
The defence agreed the pair had sex after the accused bought her plane tickets to visit him in Sydney, but argues it was consensual. Scully argued the complainant became heartbroken during the trip, and after they had had sex, because the accused made it seem as if he was going to dedicate his time to her when she visited, but was not a “good host” and focused his attention on other women.
“She understandably became upset,” he told the court.
Scully suggested that her view of the sexual encounter and of the accused “shifts overtime” after she hears “rumours and gossip” about the accused.
The complainant told the court she told the man during the alleged rape that she didn’t feel comfortable. In his closing, Scully said the complainant’s first two statements to police didn’t mention this, only that she felt “really weird” and had her period.
Complainant five
Scully told the jury that when it came to the final complainant, who had a friendship with the accused that was sometimes intimate, that they “might think” there were two themes: “obsession with the accused and drama”.
The complainant alleges the man raped her, and on two separate occasions allegedly grabbed her by the throat, and threatened to distribute an intimate video of her.
He told the court that the complainant’s version of events when the accused sexually assaulted her was “improbable to the point of absurdity”. The defence argues no sex encounter occurred at all.
He said the complainant had allegedly given evidence that the accused locked her in his room after he picked her up from a party because he had an important meeting downstairs. But photo evidence showed there was no lock on the door, and the crown conceded that there wasn’t.
On the alleged choking incident, Scully said to the court this was a lie, despite the complainant having told her mother about the incident.
“A lie repeated still remains a lie,” Scully said.
The complaint alleged the accused had called her and threatened to distribute an intimate video of her after she alleged to a friend the accused had raped and choked her. The complainant had told the court her then boyfriend went to the man’s house to retrieve the video after the threat.
Scully said the accused never threatened her, and that her then boyfriend went to the accused’s house because she knew about the footage and wanted to get it back.
After the boyfriend went to the accused’s house, the accused reported to the police that the boyfriend had “forced” his way into his home, the court heard.
The evidence for the trial is now complete and the jury is expected to begin deliberating a verdict next week.
Earlier on Friday, a women was discharged from the jury, which is now made up of three women and 10 men.
