Judge refuses to delay rape-accused cop's trial

A police officer soon to face a sexual assault trial has failed to have it delayed after a judge ruled he had ample time to prepare his defence.

Ankit Thangasamy has been charged with knowingly have sexual intercourse without consent.

The complainant cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The alleged incident occurred at a Haymarket bar in Sydney's CBD on December 17, 2021.

Thangasamy attempted to have the upcoming May 8 trial, expected to last about four weeks, vacated on the basis that he has not been provided enough time to prepare his defence case.

"The essence of the application is about the late service of voluminous and complex material that I am unable to digest in the time we have now before trial," he told Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday afternoon. 

Notice of the prosecution case came late and was missing documents, causing him to file an application earlier in March that "seemingly precipitated a flurry of activity".

He has since received more than 50 documents running over 1200 pages, an additional two hours of CCTV footage , thousands of files totalling 32GB on a USB, and a CD of intercepted telephone calls he has not been able to access, Thangasamy said.

"It's hard to give a complete sketch of what was received because it was served in such a haphazard way," he said.

"It's just constantly changing."

Judge Gina O'Rourke noted he received the CD almost two weeks ago.

"You've had it for 12 days, how have you not got it to work? That's 12 wasted days is it not?" she said.

Thangasamy said he explained the issue to the detective who provided him the CD and was "parsing through other materials".

Judge O'Rourke said Thangasamy was on the calls and should not be surprised by their contents.

He said assuming he was in fact party to the calls - while not something he expects to dispute at trial - was presumptuous before he had been able to review the recordings.

"Can we just sort of stick to the issues a bit more … is it not the situation that you have been served with all the material?" the judge asked.

"That's also contested," Thangasamy said.

The judge then asked the Crown.

"He has received the relevant calls and has been invited to ask for any others," prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman said.

One document had been updated on Tuesday, and another had been updated on March 17, Ms Steedman said.

Thangasamy argued the material was complex and voluminous.

"It doesn't seem overly complex to me," Judge O'Rourke said.

"You have chosen to represent yourself … it can be difficult to run a sexual assault trial," she said.

A barrister and solicitor quoted $100,000 per week and Legal Aid told him "there's not a chance in hell" they will fund his defence, Thangasamy said.

"I've already found information which I think I can quite fairly say, goes to the credibility of the complainant," he said.

"You can use that when you cross-examine her via a third party," Judge O'Rourke said.

Granting the application to vacate his trial would be "erroneous" with more than a month before it was set to begin, and with the vast majority of material having been served long ago, the judge said.

Thangasamy is expected to provide notice of his defence case to the Crown by April 13.