![Alexander Matters, left, and defence barrister Steven Whybrow SC leave court on Monday. Picture by Hannah Neale Alexander Matters, left, and defence barrister Steven Whybrow SC leave court on Monday. Picture by Hannah Neale](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/DaHt57RjVSvtvCBUgFzTWj/48e814bc-14e5-4184-bef4-4326adead7a7.JPG/r0_111_3340_1989_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A former Canberra political staffer is accused of ignoring a fellow university student's repeated requests to "stop" during sex, raping her and committing an indecent act while in a college dorm room.
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Alexander Louis Christopher Matters, who worked as an electorate officer for Labor MP David Smith and was an Australian National University law student at the time in question, went on trial in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday.
Matters, aged in his early 20s, has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and committing an act of indecency without consent.
In her opening address, prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea told the court the alleged rape occurred in a dorm room at a residential college in May 2021.
She said the sex started out consensual before the alleged victim told Matters to stop, saying she was feeling pain.
Matters continued and was "very rough", telling the woman "you'll be fine, I'm almost there", Ms Saikal-Skea claimed.
She told the court the woman had tears in her eyes and was in pain.
The prosecutor stated the pair had sex before the night in question but "were not boyfriend and girlfriend".
She said the alleged victim sent a Facebook message to Matters afterwards, saying: "Also, I'm very sore. You suck."
The prosecutor said the alleged victim did not report the incident at the time because her "mental health was poor and self esteem was low the at time".
"[The woman] thought what had happened was her fault," Ms Saikal-Skea said.
The woman reported the alleged rape and participated in a recorded interview with police on September 18, 2021.
The prosecutor told the court the woman had woken that day to news articles stating Matters had been charged with sexually assaulting another person.
Defence barrister Steven Whybrow SC, in his opening address, told the jury the other sexual assault charges had been dropped and they should keep the timeline of events in mind.
Mr Whybrow said Matters and the woman were "each other's occasional booty call".
He said the woman had publicly expressed her support of the #MeToo movement, and had marched in the 2021 March4Justice.
The barrister said it was "not a good look" for the woman to "be sleeping with somebody who is alleged as being a rapist".
Mr Whybrow told the court the woman had sent Matters sexual voice messages about 24 hours after the alleged sexual assault.
He told the jury the alleged victim had reacted "like Nightmare on Elm Street where [Freddy Krueger is] knocking on the door" when police asked to look at her phone.
"Somebody makes an allegation and we have to have a trial, no matter what the evidence is," Mr Whybrow said.
"If you do consent to something, then you don't get to get in the Tardis and say, 'No, no, no, I shouldn't have done that'."
The alleged victim's interview with police was played to the court.
In the video, the woman told officers she "felt honour and conscience-bound to tell police" about the alleged rape after reading news reports.
"I felt extremely trapped and uncomfortable and this was made worse by how rough he was," she said.
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The alleged victim told police Matters continued having sex with her despite her asking multiple times for him to stop.
"I felt numb and hollow and like I was just an object for him to use for his pleasure," she said.
"I just remember having tears in my eyes because it really f---ing hurt."
Giving evidence in court, the alleged victim said she had also mimed checking her watch during sex.
The woman said she had pulled her arms from Matters' grasp "for a second to do that" before he grabbed her arms again.
The trial continues.
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