Abhishek Timalsina faces ACT Supreme Court trial, accused of rape

However, the man is said to have claimed the acts were consensual and the alleged victim, whom he met minutes beforehand, was "vibing and connecting" with him.

The ACT Supreme Court jury trial of Abhishek Timalsina, aged in his late 20s, started on Monday.

Timalsina is accused of raping and indecently assaulting a customer, aged in her 20s, on November 3, 2022, in the back room of an art supply store in Westfield Belconnen.

He has pleaded not guilty to six charges which are two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and four counts of committing an act of indecency without consent.

In a recorded interview with police, played to the jury on Monday, the alleged victim said she visited the store to return some art supplies and buy gel pens about 20 minutes before closing time.

Timalsina, the only staff member present at the time, spoke to her about art and repeatedly asked to take her photograph.

"I guess I said 'no' enough and I felt uncomfortable so I said 'OK'," the woman told police in the interview.

"He took some photos and then he said, 'Do you want me to kiss you'?

"Before I could answer he said, 'I'm just going to go for it'."

In his opening address to the jury, prosecutor Trent Hickey alleged Timalsina closed the store and led the woman to a back room where he indecently assaulted her multiple times and raped her twice.

"I had stopped reacting completely," the woman told police.

"I thought he was just going to do it and, I guess, my main concern at the time was pregnancy and I asked him if he had protection at least."

After the first alleged rape, the woman claims she "didn't know if I had permission to stand up so I just stayed there".

"So he said, 'oh, you want more' and [raped me again]," she claims.

The alleged victim said she "felt like everything was going wrong" and was "sick and disgusted".

She told police she had physically tried to resist him twice but he had pushed further.

The woman is said to have attended Canberra Hospital on the day in question and underwent a forensic and medical examination.

Mr Hickey told the jury he expected the evidence would show that when speaking with police afterwards Timalsina said there was "no conversation about consenting to sexual intercourse".

The prosecutor said Timalsina told officers he thought he was "vibing and connecting" with the alleged victim.

Counsel for Timalsina, John Purnell SC, told the court the sexual acts had been consensual.

He said the trial was "concerned with events in a very short time frame" of about four-and-a-half to five minutes.

Mr Purnell asked the jury to consider "what's acting on [Timalsina's] mind and what signal is she giving".

"The evidence you might find is that she kissed him back for two minutes," he said.

"He sees an attractive woman who has been responding to their interplay as you might think of young people in a flirting situation.

"What effect is this having with him as a young man?"

The trial before Justice Verity McWilliam is set to continue.

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