A Dapto man took advantage of a young woman's drunken, semi-conscious state when he orally raped her in the midst of a booze and drug-fuelled party inside a Wollongong hotel.
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Benjamin Blair Hutchings, 48, is facing up to 14 years behind bars after pleading guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
The victim, who at 19 is young enough to be Hutchings' daughter, drank with friends at Hotel Illawarra on the evening of December 8 last year before returning to the Mantra Hotel, where they met up with a man known to one of the girls, who was also staying at the hotel.
He invited them to his room downstairs, where the victim drank further, at one stage skolling a drink containing three shots of vodka, then later snorting cocaine.
Court documents said the woman became unsteady on her feet and was slurring her words, prompting her friends to take her back to their apartment about 1am, where they left her to sleep and returned to socialise.
Meanwhile, Hutchings, who had been involved in the downstairs party, went up to the victim's apartment about 4am and knocked on the door.
The victim let him in then went straight into her bedroom and "flopped herself on the bed". Hutchings followed, sat down on the bed and began fondling the teen before removing her underwear and orally raping her.
A short time later one of the victim's friends noticed the door to the apartment was open and walked inside to discover a semi-naked Hutchings standing over the top of the woman, attempting to pull down her top as she tried to push him off.
The woman yelled at Hutchings to get off the victim, saying her friend appeared "very groggy" and unaware of what was happening.
Hutchings grabbed his shorts and left the hotel, eventually making his way home to Dapto. He later told one of the men who'd been at the party "I didn't f--k her, all I did was go down on her".
Meanwhile, the victim's friends told her what they'd seen. She became upset and confused, saying the last thing she remembered was snorting the cocaine and had no recollection of returning to the hotel room.
Hutchings was arrested later that day and when interviewed, told detectives he'd asked her if she was "up for this" during the encounter and she "did not say no". He also claimed her "moaning and groaning" indicated she consented to his touch.
He admitted he thought the victim was probably as drunk as he was but claimed she had not stumbled when she opened the door to him.
"If there was no consent, I mean she could have quite easily told me to go away from her, from inside the locked door," he told police.
Prosecutors indicated in the fact sheets that they do not accept Hutchings' account of the woman's positive responses to his advances.
Hutchings, who remains on bail, is due to appear in Wollongong District Court later this month for a sentencing date to be fixed.
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