A Big Bash league cricketer has been found not guilty of raping a woman outside a nightclub in North Queensland.
Hobart Hurricanes player Nikhil Chaudhary, 27, stood trial in the District Court in Townsville, charged with one count of rape, this week.
Crown prosecutor Shannon Sutherland said Mr Chaudhary met the 20-year-old woman on the dance floor at Townsville nightclub The Bank in May 2021.
The pair kissed and danced at the club and went to Mr Chaudhary’s car.
Ms Sutherland said Mr Chaudhary had “taken advantage” of the woman.
“It’s one thing to kiss and dance and agree to go home with someone,” she said.
“It’s another to [digitally penetrate someone] without warning.”
She said the woman had been left bleeding, indicating a degree of force.
Ms Sutherland told the jury this morning the woman had no motive to lie, and she had told friends and police straight away she had been raped, and had told Mr Chaudhary to stop.
The court heard the woman was seen distraught and crying after her friends banged on the window of the car.
The woman gave evidence in a closed court on Monday afternoon, while Mr Chaudhary elected not to give evidence.
Issues of consent
Defence lawyer Claire Grant said the complainant’s allegation was exaggerated.
She cast doubt over the accuracy of woman’s memory of what had happened in the car, saying the woman had been drinking that night.
Ms Grant disputed that penetration had taken place, and said any sexual encounter in the car had been consensual, and there was no proof that the injury found on the woman had been caused by Mr Chaudhary.
She reminded the jury the complainant had agreed to go home with Mr Chaudhary, and said that suggested she intended for sexual contact to occur.
“You don’t agree to go home with someone at three in the morning … for a cup of tea,” she said.
She said Mr Chaudhary’s denial to police, immediately afterwards, that anything had happened in the car did not indicate guilt.
Ms Grant said her client was confused, intoxicated and may have been embarrassed, saying there had also been a language barrier, and said he had asked police, what sexual assault was.
“He may not have been prepared to kiss and tell,” she said.
Cricket Tasmania said on Tuesday it had been unaware of the charges.
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