A 29-year-old man accused of raping a teenager at a Redan house cannot remember the incident but told a jury on Wednesday he had consensual sex with her.
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Derek Emerson’s defence counsel told the County Court at Ballarat he had been falsely accused of raping the 17-year-old on the night of February 18, 2017.
“There is no issue he had sex with her. We are not disputing that. We say it was entirely consensual,” barrister Paul Stefanovic said.
“It’s not what he did. It’s for the prosecutor to prove his case. (Emerson) sits right there as an innocent man until you prove his four charges.”
In opening addresses on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor David O'Doherty said Emerson was aged 27 and lived in Ballarat at the time of the alleged offending.
He said Emerson drank two bottles of vodka and some premixed drinks before he and a friend walked to the Redan house about 9pm where Emerson first met the complainant.
Mr O’Doherty said about 11.46pm the complainant called a taxi to get away from Emerson who allegedly tried to cuddle her in her bedroom while she was getting ready for bed.
But the jury was told the taxi driver refused to take her to her friend’s house because she could not pre-pay the fare.
Mr O’Doherty said Emerson and the complainant were lying next to each other on an air mattress when the accused touched her inappropriately.
“The complainant said, ‘Can you stop’. The accused ignored her protests,” Mr O’Doherty said.
He said after the air mattress went down, the complainant started to go to sleep next to her housemate when Emerson and his friend got into the bed.
The jury was told the accused allegedly restrained the teenager and raped her, despite her telling him a number of times to stop.
“Not long after she left (the bedroom) the accused made the unprompted remark to (his friend), ‘Don’t know why she left, we had sex and she was fine.’,” Mr O’Doherty said.
He said Emerson was arrested and interviewed on March 6, 2017, when he told police he had no memory at all of the allegations because he was drunk.
Mr Stefanovic urged the jury to consider the inactions of the other people in the bed, the biomechanics of penetration and the inconsistencies and credibility of the evidence.
He said rape was a terrible crime but so was being falsely accused of it.
A recording of the complainant’s evidence was played to the jury in a closed court on Wednesday.
Emerson has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including rape.
The trial will continue on Thursday.
