An Australian Defence Force Academy cadet accused of sexually assaulting a Canberra university student "crossed the line" when the pair were alone together, and it was the crossing of that line that made him guilty of the alleged crimes, prosecutors told a jury on Tuesday.
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But lawyers for 22-year-old Sebastian Crago Ellis said the woman who had accused him of assault had been "utterly discredited" and the jury could not accept what she had said to be true.
The ACT Supreme Court jury last week acquitted Mr Ellis of an indecent act on the woman in Mooseheads, as well as a charge of rape and two attempted rapes.
But Mr Ellis remains on trial accused of committing an unlawful assault and an act of indecency on the woman after a night out at Mooseheads on June 24, 2016.
Prosecutors contend - on the two remaining charges that the jury must consider - that in Mr Ellis' room early that morning he held her down on his bed and ejaculated onto her without her consent.
They allege he did these acts knowing the woman did not consent, after she had told him 'I'm done" and went to go to sleep.
In her closing address, prosecutor Rebecca Christensen pointed to the recording made by the woman of a conversation she had with Mr Ellis in her room following the incident.
"What he never said to [the woman] was a denial. What he never said to her was that she had it all wrong."
She said he apologised because "he knew he'd done the wrong thing."
Mr Ellis had given a polished and professional performance in the stand, that still failed to explain why he had apologised for what had happened, the prosecutor said.
Ms Christensen said, of the weeks between the alleged incident and the woman's report to police, that this was long before the viral "Me Too" movement, and the woman needed time to process what had happened.
She said the woman had trusted Mr Ellis, but had decided she was not going to stay silent to ensure Mr Ellis "was made accountable".
Ms Christensen said the woman had set boundaries and the man had crossed them.
"Under the law ... the crossing of that line amounts to the accused being guilty," she said.
Defence barrister Stuart Littlemore QC told the jury in his closing address that the Crown had failed to prove its case.
He said the woman had been "utterly discredited", and the Crown could put her evidence no higher than plausible. "No more than plausible," he said. "That's fatal."
He said that throughout her evidence the woman had responded to his suggestions with apologies, and the words "I suppose", "apparently" and "to some degree".
"That's not someone telling the truth," he told the jury. "That's someone building a hedge around themselves."
He said the woman was "hellbent" on destroying Mr Ellis' career, and he told the jury it would be wrong to place their faith in her oath.
He said Mr Ellis had been criticised for being too good a witness. "He's not a professional witness, he's a soldier," Mr Littlemore said.
Both lawyers referred to the fact that when the woman finished giving evidence she has sat in the public gallery throughout the remainder of the trial.
Mr Littlemore suggested she was interested in the case to an "unhealthy extent", while Ms Christensen said the woman was entitled to be there, and was there any wonder that she wanted to know what happened.
The jury will return Wednesday to continue deliberating.
