'Help, come back,' woman texted friend after alleged assault at Novotel

A woman texted her friend "help" while hiding under the front reception desk at a North Wollongong hotel after she was allegedly sexually assaulted, a trial has heard.

Steve Dimeski, 24, is accused of assaulting the woman in the Novotel hotel room she was staying in after a night out in February 2021.

Dimeski faced Wollongong District Court on Wednesday for the second day of his trial. He has pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including three counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

The jury on Wednesday heard evidence from one of the complainant's friends, two hotel workers, and the officer in charge of the investigation.

It's alleged the woman was out with friends at Mr Crown nightclub where she met Dimeski, with the pair exchanging social media details.

After the woman and her friends went back to the hotel room, the woman sent Dimeski a message asking him to bring over McDonald's.

The complainant's friend told the jury most of the group had changed into pyjamas before Dimeski had arrived.

The friend said she was "taken aback" to find Dimeski, a man she didn't know, in the hotel room. A short Snapchat video was played in court, showing him in the room speaking to people in the group.

The friend said some of the group decided to go back out to Mr Crown and headed there via an Uber, however the complainant had remained in her pyjamas at the hotel room and went to sleep.

After the friend arrived at the nightclub, she said she received alarming text messages from the complainant.

"Help, come back please," the complainant wrote.

"I need help."

"What happened, are you okay?" the friend replied.

The friend said she went back to the hotel room and searched for the woman, however later found out staff had organised another room for her to stay in.

Defence barrister Rob Steward suggested the complainant's friend fabricated her evidence about Dimeski staying in the room after the group had gone back out.

Mr Steward suggested Dimeski had left with them, and was not there at the time of the alleged assault.

"You would not, and did not walk out of that hotel, leaving your friend alone asleep in the middle of the night, with a man she barely knew?" Mr Steward asked.

"Well, I did. I wasn't aware he was going to do anything ... I was naive, young ... and wasn't thinking," the friend responded.

It's alleged the complainant awoke to Dimeski spooning her and trying to kiss her.

The woman protested and tried to push him away, but Dimeski allegedly told her, "You are just being cheeky, shut up.'"

He then allegedly sexually touched and digitally penetrated her, before she fled to the hotel lobby.

Former Novotel events manager, Tara Cullen, told the jury she saw the complainant in a "distressed" and "frantic" state at the reception desk.

"She asked us to hide her and help her," Ms Cullen said.

Novotel receptionist, Lily Baker, said the "distressed" complainant told her she had "been with a man and that she didn't feel comfortable with what he was doing".

"I took her to a new room and put her to bed," Ms Baker said.

The complainant reported the incident to police after attending hospital for a sexual assault examination.

In a police interview aired in court, Dimeski admitted to taking McDonald's to the room but said he departed when all the other people left the hotel.

Dimeski is also accused of raping another woman in the disabled toilet at Bevanda Bar in Globe Lane in June 2022. He claims the "sexual activity" was consensual.

The two complainants do not know each other.