The rape trial of a tradie has begun as a jury was told he denied the allegation but did not dispute there was consensual sexual touching. <\/p>\n
Lachlan Young, 24, is facing trial in the Melbourne County Court accused of raping a teenage girl after a night spent socialising in a Ballarat backyard in February 2024. <\/p>\n
He has pleaded not guilty and the trial is expected to run for seven days. <\/p>\n
Outlining the Crown\u2019s case, prosecutor Andrew Buckland said Mr Young met the complainant, a 16-year-old girl visiting Ballarat from elsewhere in Victoria, for the first time at a friend\u2019s house. <\/p>\n
Throughout the night, he said, the accused and the teenage girl chatted, with the pair adding each other on Snapchat.<\/p>\n
Mr Buckland said Mr Young allegedly propositioned the girl, asking \u201cif she wanted to do things\u201d, to which she responded \u201cno\u201d. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s alleged the girl went inside the home to rest, but they continued to message via Snapchat.<\/p>\n
About 3am on February 5, Mr Buckland alleged, the pair met up in the backyard for consensual sexual activity, but the girl allegedly told Mr Young she did not want to have penetrative sex. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s alleged that despite the refusal, Mr Young raped the girl for two to three minutes while she \u201cjust kind of froze up and did not know what to do\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should probably go back inside before people start looking for you,\u201d he allegedly told her.<\/p>\n
The following morning, Mr Buckland alleged, the girl disclosed to a friend what had happened and later received a Snapchat from Mr Young asking if she had told the friend \u2013 which she denied. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we didn\u2019t do much anyway,\u201d he allegedly responded. <\/p>\n
Mr Buckland detailed Snapchat messages between the pair six days later, including the girl allegedly asking if he told his friend \u201cabout the night you f–ked me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you on about?\u201d Mr Young allegedly responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re pathetic Lachie you literally f–ked me even though I said no.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jury was told the girl disclosed the alleged rape to a school wellbeing counsellor in March 2024 who then notified police.<\/p>\n
In response, Glenn Casement, for Mr Young, pointed to the \u201cwhat are you on about\u201d message, questioning if it was a response to a false allegation. <\/p>\n
He told the jury the primary legal question was whether his client and the complainant had penetrative sex.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever else went on, sexual penetration of that kind is denied in the brief time they were in the backyard,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Mr Casement said the alleged victim\u2019s credibility and reliability was \u201cutterly central\u201d to the case and urged jurors to scrutinise her evidence. <\/p>\n
\u201cAre you going to find the complainant changes her version of events about the accused depending on who she talks to?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Are you going to be deeply troubled with the complainant\u2019s credibility owing to the major differences in her account?\u201d<\/p>\n
The trial, before Judge Caitlin English, continues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rape trial of a tradie has begun as a jury was told he denied the allegation but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[77649,66954,98372,40455,98388,49413,54308,65185,54518,98390,98395,36695,49226,40465,39403,98373,98366,52182,98385,22,21,98381,8944,98387,64508,98383,39649,6909,49613,91157,98384,55303,97752,98375,98371,46964,43142,98386,55319,8963,98389,41249,43646,98380,98369,90317,1293,379,98376,98393,7350,98365,98367,56408,72689,50941,98382,98391,98370,5594,98378,40460,40706,51729,40442,51097,98394,36697,49261,39898,47672,40431,52127,39912,40513,98377,98368,39248,37068,98392,98379,78973,49223,38363,74040,8962,98374,68],"class_list":["post-71102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-case","tag-s-credibility","tag-s-credibility-and-reliability","tag-s-house","tag-16yo-girl","tag-49413","tag-3am","tag-a-16-year-old-girl","tag-a-backyard","tag-a-ballarat-backyard","tag-a-false-allegation","tag-a-friend","tag-a-jury","tag-a-night","tag-a-response","tag-a-school-wellbeing-counsellor","tag-a-snapchat","tag-a-teenage-girl","tag-a-tradie","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-backyard","tag-ballarat","tag-ballarat-tradie-lachlan-young","tag-consensual-sexual-activity","tag-consensual-sexual-touching","tag-each-other","tag-events","tag-february-2024","tag-february-5","tag-glenn-casement","tag-her-account","tag-her-evidence","tag-her-version","tag-her-the-following-morning","tag-his-client","tag-his-friend","tag-judge-caitlin-english","tag-jurors","tag-jury","tag-lachlan-young","tag-march-2024","tag-message","tag-mr-buckland","tag-mr-casement","tag-mr-young","tag-newswire-court","tag-newswire-news","tag-pathetic-lachie","tag-penetrative-sex","tag-people","tag-police-in-response","tag-prosecutor-andrew-buckland","tag-seven-days","tag-sexual-penetration","tag-six-days","tag-snapchat-messages","tag-snapchat-about","tag-snapchat-mr-buckland","tag-teenage-girl","tag-that-kind","tag-the-accused","tag-the-allegation","tag-the-alleged-rape","tag-the-alleged-victim","tag-the-backyard","tag-the-brief-time","tag-the-case","tag-the-complainant","tag-the-crown","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-friend","tag-the-girl","tag-the-home","tag-the-jury","tag-the-major-differences","tag-the-melbourne-county-court","tag-the-night","tag-the-pair","tag-the-primary-legal-question","tag-the-rape-trial","tag-the-refusal","tag-the-teenage-girl","tag-the-trial","tag-tradie","tag-trial","tag-two-to-three-minutes","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}