A 35-year-old man has been found guilty of two charges of raping his estranged wife at their former family home.
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The Ballarat jury delivered its verdict on Wednesday afternoon after about six hours of deliberations, and hearing from the former couple’s child who was a key witness in the trial.
After the jury left the court room, the man collapsed in the dock and paramedics were called to treat him.
The 12-member jury found the man, who The Courier has chosen not to name to protect the complainant’s identity, guilty of two counts of rape and acquitted him of three counts of rape.
The man had pleaded not guilty to all five charges and maintained his innocence during the nine-day trial.
Police alleged the man raped his estranged wife at two locations over three days in February 2017.
The two charges he was found guilty of related to an incident at the family's former home on February 7.
The incident occurred after a real estate agent left the house at 7.30pm following a meeting about listing the house for sale.
The former couple's primary-school aged child said he saw his father push his mother down on the bed and pull her pants down to touch her inappropriately.
In a recorded interview with police, the child said he heard his mother saying “no” and “get off me”.
Crown prosecutor David O’Doherty said the woman also told her husband, “no” and “you know what you are doing is rape”.
The man said their evidence was wrong.
Defence barrister, Alan Hands, said the prosecution case beggared belief.
He said the complainant had fabricated the rape allegations because, in February 2015, the accused “had walked out on her and never looked back”.
Mr Hands said the complainant had been angry the man was not able to have the children for an access visit on February 14, 2017, and started to build a case against his client.
In giving evidence to the court the man said allegations on February 7 he had taken his wife's mobile phone and keys to the master bedroom, and his wife and two children had followed to get them back, were wrong.
Mr O’Doherty said once the children retrieved the phone and run outside with it, the man was seen sexually assaulting his wife through the bedroom window.
The man's parents supported him in court during the trial, passing him lollies and making sure he was OK in the dock.
A plea hearing will be held in Ballarat in November before Judge Bill Stuart. The man was remanded in custody.