A male ADFA cadet accused of raping another cadet in her room said he told people he had sex with her because it was only a matter of time before they found out, a jury heard on Wednesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Harlan Agresti, 23, told the court he and the woman had agreed to keep what had happened "our little secret".
But he said when he left the room that night he told several other cadets that he saw that he had had sex with her.
In the audio recording of Mr Agresti's evidence from an earlier trial played to court, his barrister asked why he told people.
He said it was "important for me to tell people I knew what had happened in my own words first."
Mr Agresti is facing a retrial in the ACT Supreme Court this week on one count of sexual intercourse without consent.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors contend the woman was too drunk to consent and Mr Agresti knew it.
Before the trial started at 10am on Wednesday, Justice Michael Elkaim told the phone-less jury the result of the same-sex marriage survey - 61 per cent in favour of same-sex marriage - so they would not be left wondering for the day.
During the recording on Wednesday, Mr Agresti recounted his version of what happened on June 22, 2013.
He said he had not intended to go out to Civic that night but was encouraged by the other cadets.
Later while out, he approached the woman, who was sitting alone at a bar, and said he told her he was going home and if she wanted to come.
He denied that she told him that she could not see, and needed to go home.
They got in a taxi and returned to ADFA.
Mr Agresti denied the woman was quiet and uncoordinated while walking back to their quarters, saying they were talking.
He said after she vomited she told him she was okay and described it as a "tac", or a "tactical" vomit.
When they got back to her room, she asked him to tuck her into bed, he told the court.
The court heard him say that when he reached over her, she grabbed his neck to kiss him. She tried to take his pants off.
He got off the bed to take his pants off and she took her stockings off, he said.
He denied under questioning from the prosecutor in the audio recording that the woman just lay there, that she was in a state of semi-consciousness or that she was non-responsive.
He also denied that he used the opportunity to take advantage of the woman that night.
"I reject that," he said.
Four former cadets who Mr Agresti spoke to after leaving the woman's room that night were also called to give evidence on Wednesday, three of them appearing in court via Facetime.
They each told the court that Mr Agresti told them he had sex with the woman, and three of the cadets said the conversations were brief and he appeared to have been drinking.
Defence barrister Philip Dunn QC grilled one former cadet about why he had earlier told police Mr Agresti intoxication was as "bad" as he had ever seen him, but told the jury on Wednesday he was "quite drunk".
The witness denied he was trying to mislead the jury or that he had deliberately changed the wording to make it worse for Mr Agresti.
The trial continues.
