Posted: 2024-09-19 03:32:09

A 24-year-old former army cadet has flatly denied forcing a colleague at the Australian Defence Force Academy to do anything against her will, when the pair had sex after a night out in March 2022.

WARNING: The following story contains graphic content which may disturb readers.

Jake Sullivan is facing six charges including rape, committing an act of indecency and assault.

The alleged victim told the ACT Supreme Court the pair arranged to have sex that night, but after about ten minutes Mr Sullivan had become aggressive, and when she turned away from him, saying she wanted to sleep, he became annoyed and continued.

She said she was fearful of him as he was larger than she was and so she went along with it, as she realised he was not going to stop.

The woman told police she found multiple bruises on her body after the incident, including on her arms, breast and buttocks area.

Friends of the woman told the court they found her in a state of total distress on her bedroom floor the next day.

Today under questioning from his own lawyer, Mr Sullivan rejected the woman's allegations, which included pulling her hair forcefully.

"I never pulled her hair, no," Mr Sullivan said.

When asked by his lawyer Jack Pappas if he twisted her breast "in a really forceful fashion" Mr Sullivan said: "No, I never did anything like that, no".

Mr Sullivan denied biting the victim or slapping her, and when responding to another allegation that he used his finger or thumb to penetrate her, he said "that's simply another lie".

"I never forced her, no," he said.

Mr Sullivan said he became aware she was not happy after the pair had showered together.

He told the court the woman had told him she was sore.

"I said 'I am really sorry if I caused you any pain'," he said.

But Mr Sullivan said when he told her he was going to get some food because he was hungry the woman was "not impressed".

"She seemed angry with that remark," Mr Sullivan said.

He said he told her he would message her in the morning, but when he tried he found he'd been blocked.

Mr Sullivan said that had happened before when the pair were seeing more of each other in 2020, and that time around he had not made much effort to contact her, saying, "I left it at sex".

The court heard he knew nothing of the allegations until he was arrested months later.

Under questioning from prosecutor Trent Hickey, Mr Sullivan denied hurting the alleged victim during the encounter.

"I caused her no injuries," Mr Sullivan said.

"None of the marks on her were caused by me."

Mr Sullivan also told the court he thought the woman was infatuated with him at the time.

The man told the court he was only interested in her in a "friends with benefits" way, and didn't want anything more.

He said he was struggling to make the connection between what happened between them and the complaint the woman made to a friend she called the same night.

The trial is continuing.

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