BHP worker awoke to colleague raping her, court told

May 07, 2023 08:55 PM PDT | By AAPNEWS
 BHP worker awoke to colleague raping her, court told
Image source: AAPNEWS

A BHP worker says she woke up to find a colleague raping her after night of heavy drinking at a mining camp in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

The woman has accused Ryan John Zabaznow, 37, of sexually assaulting her after she passed out inside her donga in Newman on November 18, 2020.

He denies it, and told the District Court in Perth on Monday the sex was consensual and he has the Facebook messages to prove it.

But the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, disagrees.

"I remember waking up to Ryan over the top of me," she said from the witness box on the first day of Zabaznow's trial for sexual penetration without consent.

"He was penetrating me ... I wasn't really sure what was happening."

The woman said she had been stripped naked from the waist down and Zabaznow's body felt like a "cement slab" on top of her.

"I remember him saying how sexy I was," she said, wiping away tears.

"He had one hand at the side of my head and the other on my hip ... Thrusting his body.

She said she was crying during the incident and didn't know whether to scream or yell. 

"I thought don't let him see you're upset so I just cried as quietly as I could," she said.

The court heard the pair had been at the camp's bar or wet mess earlier in the night and continued socialising in colleagues' dongas after it closed.

Zabaznow joined the woman in a room with other co-workers after messaging her via Facebook.

The pair went back to the woman's room with other colleagues after security guards moved them on for being too noisy.

As the night wore on the woman, who said she drank about 15 mid-strength beers, started to feel unwell.

A friend helped put her to bed after she vomited while Zabaznow and another man sat outside and continued drinking.

After the woman's friend left, Zabaznow allegedly entered the drunk woman's room where she was passed out and climbed into her bed.

She was awoken by a knock at her door after her friend returned to check she was OK and found the pair in bed together.

The court heard the woman told her friend the sex wasn't consensual and the friend confronted Zabaznow about his alleged actions.

But Zabaznow's lawyer, Helen Prince, said social media messages sent the morning after the alleged rape told a different story.

"It's all good (my friend was) just concerned because of the state I was in when she put to me bed," the woman allegedly wrote in reply to a message from Zabaznow.

"You're not a c***. It's all good.

"They were just worried about me because I'm going through a lot."

Zabaznow messaged back saying he wasn't the person he was being accused of being.

The woman also allegedly told a supervisor the sex wasn't non-consensual.

The trial continues.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028


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