Friends of a female ADFA cadet allegedly raped by another cadet in his room found the woman rocking and sobbing underneath her desk the next day, a court has heard.
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A series of officers and cadets testified at the man's trial on Friday, as the Crown led evidence of what others knew and heard in the lead-up and wake of the alleged rape.
The accused, Jack Toby Mitchell, 19, has pleaded not guilty to the sole charge on the indictment, and maintains he had consensual sex with her the morning of May 28, 2016.
That day, a Saturday, a close friend of the woman's who was also a cadet, said the woman, 19, had told her she had slept with Mr Mitchell when they returned to his room after a night out at Civic's Mooseheads.
In cross-examination defence barrister Prue Bindon challenged the friend on her views of the incident, who agreed that she thought what had happened was not OK, because she understood that if someone was drunk they could not consent to sex. She said she neither encouraged nor discouraged the woman to report the incident, saying "I just wanted her to do what's best".
Another friend told the court she did not know anything was wrong but had noticed the woman acting strange on Sunday. "She seemed a little off," she said, "not as chirpy as she usually would be." That evening she had visited the woman in her room where she found her "underneath her desk", rocking and sobbing.
"She told us she had passed out and came to with [Mr Mitchell] still on top of her," the friend said. She had encouraged the woman to report it, because "we couldn't let it happen to other women in defence'."
On cross-examination, the friend agreed the woman had been interested in Mr Mitchell and she knew they had kissed on Mt Pleasant after a run on Thursday.
She was excited by that, barrister Steven Whybrow asked.
Yes, came the witness's reply, but she was "still a bit confused". She agreed the confusion was in part due to the woman recently breaking up with her boyfriend.
Several witnesses called by the prosecution on Friday detailed the woman's doubts about reporting the incident.
An officer in the Air Force who was based at ADFA, and who was the woman's welfare liaison, told the court the woman had been concerned about her career and how people would perceive her if she reported the incident.
Another military officer, who the court heard had experienced something similar, had also spoken to the woman on the Saturday and said she expressed concerns about reporting the incident "for her career and her friend's [Mr Mitchell's] career and the reputation of ADFA".
The alleged victim had spent nearly 10 hours on the stand when her cross-examination ended early Friday afternoon.
As her testimony drew to an end, barrister Mr Whybrow suggested it wasn't until the woman spoke with her friend that she began to think what happened was rape, which she denied. "It wasn't until I talked to [the friend] about what I didn't want to accept that I accepted it."
She also denied his suggestions she had reported Mr Mitchell for rape to protect her own reputation. "I wasn't concerned about my reputation. I was concerned I'd just been raped by a friend," she told the court.
The trial continues on Monday.
