A witness has broken down in tears while describing the “bloodied and blackened” appearance of an alleged rape victim who came running to her house for help.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The witness phoned triple-0 the moment after the injured woman knocked on the door of her Alfredton home on September 9, 2017, seeking urgent help.
The five-minute emergency assistance recording was played to a Ballarat jury during a criminal trial of the accused at the County Court on Thursday.
The distressed victim was heard in the background while the witness told the call-taker the victim’s face was covered in blood, she couldn’t open her eyes and she escaped the accused’s house when he went to the supermarket.
The witness, who lived near the accused’s house where the alleged assaults and rape occurred, cried while the recording was played.
She told the jury the woman arrived at her front door blackened and bloodied with a blanket wrapped around her waist.
The neighbour said the woman had told her she was visiting her former partner but when she went to leave he held her captive and hit her over the head with a metal bar, tried to cut her throat with a razor blade and tried to rip her breast off.
“Every time she tried to scream out for help he held a pillow over her head,” the neighbour said.
The man, who The Courier cannot name in order to protect the victim’s identity, was charged with nine offences relating to the same victim.
The charges relate to incidents in February, May to June and September, 2017.
He has pleaded guilty to three counts of intentionally causing injury and not guilty to two counts of false imprisonment and one count each of perverting the course of justice, kidnapping, making a threat to kill and rape.
During cross examination, defence barrister Ian Polak asked the neighbour if the victim mentioned being sexually assaulted, to which she replied, “no”.
Another witness, a Ballarat Health Services emergency department nurse told the jury she conducted a head to toe assessment of the victim on September 9.
She said the woman complained of head, facial, arm, chest, back and vaginal pain.
The nurse said the woman stated she had been in and out of consciousness while at the accused’s house and was sleep deprived.
She said the woman made no initial sexual assault allegations until the medical assessment reached the groin area.
“She could not remember any sexual assault but she had pain and her vagina wasn’t right,” the nurse said.
“She insinuated there were periods of time she doesn’t remember.”
Detective Leading Senior Constable Jacinta Ford told the jury she spoke to the victim from her hospital bed on September 10.
She said the victim told her she was coming out of unconsciousness when the accused was having sex with her.
The trial will continue on Friday before Judge Frank Gucciardo.
