Woman watched boyfriend bash, strip tourist
THE girlfriend of a man accused of raping and attempting to rape two foreign tourists at a Cairns caravan park says she watched him bash and strip one of them then chase after her.
The man, 22, who cannot be named unless committed for trial, is charged with raping one of the women, assault with intent to rape the other one and two counts of robbery with violence in company.
The women, aged 30 and 35, were allegedly attacked and robbed by the man, his mother, 38, and his sister, 15, as they tried to find their cabin after checking in to the Cairns Villa and Leisure Park at Manoora about 3am on February 22. The man’s girlfriend told a four-day committal hearing that began in Cairns Magistrates’ Court yesterday she felt sorry for the women but did not help them.
"I couldn’t, I was only one person there," she said.
The woman said she had been drinking with the three co-accused and another man at their cabin at the park when the mother "sang out" for her son to help his sister.
She said the teenager had been robbing the tourists of their handbags and they were fighting her.
"Mum thought (her daughter) was getting bashed," the woman said.
"Then they (the tourists) got bashed by (the daughter, her mother and brother)."
She said she watched as the teenager and her mother "got stuck into" one of the women while her boyfriend chased the other woman to the toilet block.
Asked if she had seen him raping her, she said: "I just seen him strip one … then I couldn’t see, she ran to the other side of the toilets".
Cairns CIB Det Sgt Michelle Clark said the teenage girl told her the tourists had knocked on the cabin door seeking
directions, she went with them, there was a fight "and her brother and mother came to her aid".
Det Sgt Clark said the brother was charged with rape on the strength of his sister’s statement, along with the fact the two tourists were "badly beaten up and there were injuries to the genital area".
Cairns CIB Det Sen-Constable Stephanie Whiteman said the teenager was found with a Visa card in the name of one of the tourists, a camera, some Danish currency and nearly $300 in Australian
currency.
The hearing continues today.
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