A South Coast man accused of raping his friend’s housemate has admitted he lied during an interview with police about his interaction with the woman that night.
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The alleged victim claims she woke in the early hours of December 29, 2016 to discover Jay Clarke lying on top of her, moving his penis in and out of her vagina.
She said she yelled at him to get off her and leave, prompting Clarke allegedly to say “just let me f—king finish I’m close to coming.”
Clarke was arrested in early January and charged with rape.
In a police interview aired in court this week, Clarke told detectives he’d just finished using the toilet next to the woman’s bedroom when she came out of her room, grabbed him and started kissing him.
He told officers he rejected her and went back downstairs to keep drinking with his friend.
However, police later discovered Clarke’s DNA inside the woman’s vagina.
In court on Thursday, Clarke admitted he’d lied to police about the extent of the sexual interaction between them. He said he had willingly gone into the woman’s bedroom – at her request. He said he licked his finger then digitally penetrated the woman for about a minute, causing her to moan.
He said when she called out the name of another man he immediately stopped, said “who the f—k is [he]”, then left the room.
He told jurors he was “devastated” to read text messages the woman sent to his friend – the flatmate – about 10 minutes later claiming Clarke had “half-raped” her.
He said he went back upstairs to confront her but she yelled at him to get out.
When asked why he had not supplied that version to police during his initial interview, Clarke said he’d been embarrassed about the rape allegations made against him.
“It was embarrassing, the whole thing, I was devastated,” he said, adding he and his wife were in an on/off relationship at the time.
“I didn’t think much would come of it [the allegations] because it was all consensual. I didn’t think she’d take it this far.”
He denied suggestions from Crown prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman that he had concocted the “new” story to explain the presence of his DNA in the woman’s vagina.
“I’m only telling the truth,” he responded.
“I never took my pants off [in her room]. We did nothing that wasn’t consensual.”
“If it was consensual then why didn’t you tell the police about it?” Ms Steedman asked.
“Because it was embarrassing. I was cheating [on my wife].”
The jury is expected to retire on Friday morning to consider its verdict.
