A Canberra university student who alleges an Australian Defence Force Academy cadet raped her in his room confronted the man after the incident, pointing to his future role as a military leader when questioning him about his alleged behaviour, a court has heard.
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A covert audio recording of the conversation between the two 20-year-olds was played to the jury on Tuesday at Sebastian Crago Ellis' ACT Supreme Court trial. Mr Ellis has pleaded not guilty to six alleged sexual offences, including rape and attempted rape.
The trial has heard that the student and the cadet began consensual sexual activity in his room after a night out at Civic nightclub Mooseheads on July 24, 2016. But prosecutors contend Mr Ellis, now 22, later raped and attempted to rape the woman early that morning.
The student says she was clear about what sexual acts she would consent to and that Mr Ellis failed to respect her boundaries. It follows a first incident a month earlier in which the woman says Mr Ellis groped her in Mooseheads.
In the audio, which the Australian National University student recorded on her phone when the cadet came to see her in her room, she asked how he explained what had happened in his room that morning. "When we got back you kept pushing it, regardless of what I said," she said.
"I have never done anything like this before okay, that's why I'm so f--king distraught about it," he said. "This is probably the worst thing I've done in my life."
The student, who cannot legally be identified, told Mr Ellis: "When you go to [the Royal Military College - Duntroon] you will be put in charge of others who include women, and you are meant to lead them and they're meant to trust you."
The woman suggests that if she lodged a complaint "it will ruin your life." "And at the same time, how is it fair that you can walk free from punishment? How is it fair that I leave women in danger?"
She asked if Mr Ellis thought he should stay at ADFA, and he replied yes.
The recording goes for about an hour.
At one point, the student asked Mr Ellis if there was anything else he wanted to say. "Just, I'm sorry. I should be better than that. I know I'm better than that," he said. "If I could take it back I would in a heartbeat."
When the recording was finished playing and the court adjourned for a break, the jury wrote a note and asked the judge what the minimum and maximum penalties were for each of the counts.
Justice John Burns told the jury that was not relevant to their deliberations. "Your concern is to look to and take note of the evidence in order to determine what you are satisfied actually occurred."
In cross-examination, defence barrister Stuart Littlemore QC suggested the student had blackmailed Mr Ellis when said she would "prosecute him unless he handed in his papers and left ADFA".
She denied that was blackmail or that she wanted to destroy his career. She said she wanted to protect other women.
"You're out and you're still out to destroy him, aren't you?" Mr Littlemore asked.
She said: "I'm obviously at court to seek justice."
The barrister also suggested that when the woman told police Mr Ellis tried to have sex with her what she meant was that he wanted to have sex.
"Every time you used the word 'try' or 'tried' it makes much more sense ... to use the word 'wanted'?" Mr Littlemore said. "Yes, I suppose," she replied.
"The reality of the situation can be summed up by [the Cyndi Lauper song] 'Girls just want to have fun', but boys just want to have sex," he suggested.
"I went to his house for consensual sexual exchange, and that meant prior to going that we were not going to have sex," the student replied.
Mr Ellis, who is from Melbourne, is charged with two counts of attempted rape, one rape, two acts of indecency without consent and one act of indecency in the third degree. He has pleaded not guilty to each count.
The trial continues.
