The woman, then 22, appeared in the County Court on charges including rape and sexual penetration of a child under 16 relating to two occasions in the mid-1990s' at a flat in Black Hill.

The man, then 25, faced one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

Prosecution for the Crown told the jury both incidents had taken place at the woman's flat.

The court heard the then-teenage complainant was in the lounge room when the effects of a Mogadon sleeping pill the woman had given her began to take effect.

IN THE NEWS

It is alleged the woman came into the room with her upper body exposed.

"[The accused] asks [the complainant] to take off her top, what she says then is that she tries to take it off but the effects of the Mogadon had [taken hold] ... she was helped by [the accused] to take off her top and bra," the prosecutor said.

"[The accused] tongue kisses her ... following that she grabs [the complainant's] right hand and puts it to her breast."

The court heard the complainant had begun to pass out and had problems remembering parts of the night, but did recall her pants allegedly being removed.

In the second incident the following year it is alleged the woman acted as an "encourager" for the man as he allegedly orally assaulted the teenager in the bedroom.

"[The complainant says] that whilst this is happening [the accused woman] is encouraging," the prosecution said.

It was then alleged that a child's toy was used to further sexually assault the child.

The court heard this happened despite the child saying 'no'.

"[The complainant] said to stop doing it because it was hurting and [the accused man] in fact told the co-accused to stop doing this."

Defence for the woman told the court there were toys in the home because the woman had an infant child, and there was no medical evidence or evidence of injuries.

"The defence position is that the events just did not happen in the way [the complainant] says they did ... there is no evidence whatsoever that [the accused woman] knew that [the complainant] was under 16 years of age," the defence said.

"There may well have been children's toys in the home ... but the story about the insertion of the toy...is made up ... there's no toy with [the complainant's] DNA on it waiting to be tendered by the prosecution."

Defence for the man took the same position.

The court heard it took a number of years for the complainant to make a report to police due to distress.

She began her statement to police in 2016, which she finished in 2017 with the help of counselling.

The complainant gave evidence to a closed court.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.