A man who packed Viagra and condoms for an overnight stay in Canberra with a woman he'd met online was hoping to get lucky, not rape her, his defence barrister has told a jury.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Juswan Mokmargana, 46, was charged with attempted rape after the woman became suspicious of her drink at the bar that night and police found the Viagra and condoms, as well as sleeping drugs, in his suitcase.
Prosecutors contend he spiked the woman's drink intending to have sex with her without her consent.
But his defence barrister argued the man was himself taking the sleeping drug, and had packed a "hopefulness kit" not "rape kit".
"The presence of [Viagra and condoms] in your forties is not a rape kit," the barrister James Stewart said.
"It's not planning for rape it's just hoping ... to get lucky.
The Sydney man faced an ACT Supreme Court trial this week after pleading not guilty to the sole count on the indictment.
The court heard he met the Gold Coast woman, 25, over a "sugar daddy" website before inviting her to the capital on April 9, 2016.
The woman testified she was clear with him about not looking for a sexual relationship, and had agreed to stay in the same bed with the man in Canberra as long as he kept his "hands to himself".
That night police were called to Civic pub King O'Malley's and the man later arrested after the woman noticed something in her glass.
In closing arguments, Mr Stewart conceded what was alleged against his client was a scary proposition but he questioned what the Crown said the man was planning to do.
"If you were going to rape someone why on Earth would you take Stilnox yourself?" he asked the jury.
"Why would you bring an engagement ring?"
He suggested that was "the folly of the mid-life crisis."
"[It was the] pathetic hope of a man in his forties that's he's going ... to get lucky, and he's going to get the 24-year-old."
He asked the jury to consider how the man would have got the drugged woman out of the bar and back to the hotel room at QT across Civic. "He's not Arnold Schwarzenegger," he said.
Mr Stewart recalled a doctor gave evidence it would take 30 to 120 minutes for the Viagra to work. "Most importantly through all that [the woman] can't wake up," he said.
But prosecutor Emilija Beljic suggested Mr Mokmargana's demeanour in the bar's surveillance footage "markedly differed" before and after it's alleged he is seen putting Stilnox in the drink.
After, she said, the man toasted the woman three times. "Contrast that with the first 26 minutes," she said, "there's not a single toast."
"... because he hadn't yet administered the Stilnox."
She said Mr Mokmargana went beyond preparing for a rape when he spiked the glass and encouraged the woman to drink. "He's putting into effect something he has already planned for," she said.
She told the court the man went to the bar that night with eight times the half-tablet dose of Stilnox he was prescribed to take.
If you were to accept the accused's version, she said, he would have to be a "fairly unlucky man" to be caught by police trying to knock himself out in the middle of a pub with a guest.
Presiding judge Michael Elkaim gave the jury instructions about attempted crimes before it retired to begin deliberations about 3pm.
The jury returns on Friday to continue deliberating.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said prosecutors suggested the items made up a "rape kit".
