A Canberra labourer who raped a burlesque dancer in an admitted loss of self-control was a "lovesick puppy" who wouldn't have done so for more than a second, a defence barrister has said.
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Jake Elias Versteeg was set to go on trial in the ACT Supreme Court this week but, after negotiations with lawyers, instead pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and an act of indecency.
The court heard there was still dispute about what Versteeg admitted to; his victim said he held her down and raped her for between one and three minutes in June 2018, but he maintained the penetration was "fleeting", or for about one second.
Versteeg's barrister, Margaret Jones, said her client's version of events had to be true because Versteeg was a lovesick puppy who was obsessed and infatuated with his victim.
The court heard the pair met on a burlesque cruise. Versteeg's mother Gianna Bagnara is a prominent burlesque dancer.
Ms Jones said Versteeg wouldn't risk his relationship with his victim by "callously" raping her because to him, "this is not a one-night stand where he has no intention of seeing her again".
The court heard the pair engaged in consensual kissing and touched each other before Versteeg raped the woman.
Ms Jones said all the evidence pointed to a finding that Versteeg only penetrated his victim "a bit", given his victim told one friend as much, and told another he raped her for "like a second".
She said Versteeg appeared to not have understood that the crime, although fleeting, still took away the woman's bodily integrity.
"He doesn't come across as a player," Ms Jones said.
Prosecutor Rebecca Christensen said Versteeg's victim was downplaying the rape to friends, and told Versteeg of its true seriousness when she texted him: "You literally have held me down and put your dick inside me after I said 'no'."
Ms Christensen said Versteeg responded that he regretted his actions and said "it was the most dishonorable thing ever". She said Versteeg never denied in texts with the woman that he held her down and forcefully raped her.
Ms Christensen said the woman repeatedly told Versteeg "no" and that she didn't want to have sex with him before he raped her and she felt a burning or stabbing pain.
She said the woman had to bite Versteeg to get him to stop.
Justice John Burns said he would determine the facts of the case on July 8, ahead of Versteeg's sentencing.