A cousin of a woman who accused a well-connected Melbourne man of rape told a witness that the alleged victim had the same legal team as Grace Tame and would take him for “all that he’s worth”, a court has heard.
The man, who cannot be named, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in Victoria’s county court. The alleged offences occurred in March 2023 after the woman – a former personal assistant for the accused – said she spent an evening drinking and taking cocaine with him, while listening to music and watching the football at his friend’s home.
Prosecution details
It is alleged by the prosecution that, at the end of the night, the woman was at the man’s house when he tried to kiss her and sexually assaulted her. He then allegedly raped her twice, the trial previously heard.
On Friday, the trial heard evidence from another former personal assistant of the man, who told the court she had a falling out with the alleged victim after the witness refused to take her to drinks with the man in November 2021.
Witness testimony
The row in a Melbourne hotel culminated in the alleged victim throwing her cutlery on the table and screaming “how dare you do this to me” and “just one drink, just one drink with [him], why won’t you give me just one drink”, the witness told police. The pair have not spoken since, the witness said in court.
Under questioning from the man’s barrister, Dermot Dann KC, the witness agreed that she formed the opinion that night that the woman was “trying to force her way” into the accused’s world, life or business. The witness also denied claims that Dann said the alleged victim had made in her evidence, which was given in closed court.
This evidence, Dann said, included that the witness regularly drank with the accused socially while she was employed with him, that she had a video of him shouting in the workplace and had shown it to the alleged victim, and that she felt unsafe around him.
Police involvement
The witness said that in April 2023 she was contacted by the police informant in the case, Det Sen Const Joshua Guy, who told her about the allegations. After this conversation, but before she made a police statement, she said she had spoken to a cousin of the alleged victim, the court heard. She was told the alleged victim had the same six lawyers as Grace Tame and would be “taking [the accused] for all that he’s worth”.
Friends of the man also gave evidence about watching the football with him and the alleged victim, hours before the alleged offending. The couple hosted the alleged victim and the accused at their property in South Melbourne, the court heard. The alleged victim had her hand on the man’s thigh while watching the match, the witnesses told the court on Friday, with one describing the act as “a public display of affection”. The man left with the alleged victim after he was seen nodding off while watching the game, his friend told the court.
Alleged aftermath
The court has previously heard the alleged victim said she punched the man in the face after the alleged rape. “[The accused] grabbed his face and said words to the effect of ‘you’ve broken my nose’,” prosecutor Matthew Fisher told the court during his opening address. “She got out of bed and said to him ‘you’re a fucking rapist’.”
The woman went to another room and started taking notes of what happened on her phone, before texting her mother, who called the police despite her daughter’s reluctance to involve them, the court had heard. On Friday, two police officers who attended the accused’s house gave evidence. Det Sen Con James Redman agreed with Dann that the man did not appear to have any facial injuries at the time. He also agreed the man was friendly and cooperative while police were at his house, and that he largely spoke with him about the accused’s work. “He’s a very charming, charismatic man,” Redman told the court. He also agreed he told the man that police had attended the property because of reports of a “disturbance”.
A couple of hours earlier, Redman said he spoke to the alleged victim on the phone before police arrived at the man’s house. He told the court that she told him she was not in any danger and was safe in a spare room at the house, and was trying to resolve “these matters” on her own. The trial continues.
