An ADFA cadet who has accused another cadet of raping her told a mutual friend after reporting the incident that she had doubts about what had happened, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was June 3, 2016, the day after the accused cadet Jack Toby Mitchell, 19, had been arrested and his name and charge widely reported in the national media.
The cadets had been celebrating the end of semester, when the woman, who is also 19 and whose name is suppressed, spoke to their mutual friend about what was happening.
The mutual friend testified at the man's trial on Monday, telling the court the woman had been drinking that night.
She told the court the woman was upset and had asked her: "... I've ruined Jack's career haven't I?"
The friend had agreed but also told the woman she had done the right thing by reporting what had happened.
The alleged victim had then said something along the lines of, "I know things happened that night but I don't know if they happened that way."
"I felt sick to my stomach," the friend testified on Monday.
"I was speechless and I didn't know what to think."
Mr Mitchell and the woman had returned to his room at the Campbell campus early in the morning of May 28, 2016 after a night at Civic club Mooseheads. The Crown contends the woman fell asleep and woke to him having sex with her. It's further alleged that when she realised what was happening and tried to push him away, he had continued having sex with her.
Mr Mitchell has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape. He does not dispute they had sex but says it was consensual.
The mutual friend also told the ACT Supreme Court on Monday of the exchanges she shared with the accused, Mr Mitchell, and her friends in the days after the incident.
"I have a Jack freaking out atm," she messaged to a group chat of her friends that included the alleged victim.
The woman had asked her to hear Mr Mitchell's side of the story and then she would explain. The mutual friend had then not seen the woman until the Sunday evening.
""[The woman] was very upset," she told the court.
"She was on the floor in a ball crying."
The court heard the woman had refused to speak to him, and had not replied to his messages over the next days.
The next day, Sunday, Mr Mitchell was messaging their mutual friend, who had also played "wingman" for him.
"How come she doesn't want to talk to me?", "Have I f---ed it? I hate myself," the man's messages to her read.
The friend said the woman had said she didn't want to see Mr Mitchell. She told Mr Mitchell he could not see her.
At one stage she asked him if everything was okay.
"Not really," he had replied. "I'm worried for her."
The trial continues.