A rapist has huffed and puffed in court before shouting at a prosecutor, who declared the offender was trying to "save face" by claiming he was only guilty of "having sex in public".
Salvatore David Incandela, 41, has been behind bars since March 29, when an ACT Supreme Court jury found him guilty of sexual intercourse without consent.
The verdict followed a trial, at which Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey alleged Incandela had stopped his car on a dirt track in Spence while driving a woman home.
Mr Hickey said Incandela had then violently raped the woman, who had earlier been drinking with his friend in Calwell after meeting that man through the Zoosk dating website.
When Incandela faced a sentencing hearing on Friday, the court received a pre-sentence report that said the concreter had continued to deny the November 2020 rape.
"He appeared to minimise his actions ... and was adamant that the sexual encounter was consensual," the ACT Corrective Services report stated.
Incandela also told the report author he was respectful of women and that he would "never take away someone's self worth".
"[He] finalised his overall attitude towards his current offending behaviour by stating 'the only thing I am guilty of is having sex in public'," the report said.
But Mr Hickey argued it was "simply unbelievable" for Incandela to deny knowledge of the victim's lack of consent.
He told the court Incandela was an opportunist who had "acted like a predator" to rape the vulnerable woman, who was intoxicated at the time.
The prosecutor also said Incandela's credit had been "severely impaired" by the way he had changed his story multiple times during a police interview that followed his arrest.
In the interview, played at the trial, Incandela told police he could not have raped the woman because his penis "was scared and it ran away" during a failed attempt at oral sex.
"He lied throughout that police interview, and he lied because he knew he had raped her," Mr Hickey said on Friday.
This prompted a furious Incandela to shout "I did not" from the dock.
The 41-year-old's behaviour in court had earlier resulted in Chief Justice Lucy McCallum needing to adjourn for two short breaks.
Incandela's barrister, Travis Jackson, asked for the first of these after his client started huffing and puffing in the dock.
Incandela could also be seen leaning back and placing his hands behind his head as Mr Hickey addressed the court.
"My client is getting quite agitated," Mr Jackson said as he asked for five minutes to calm Incandela down.
The initial disruption occurred as Mr Hickey outlined the facts he urged Chief Justice McCallum to find in accordance with the jury's verdict.
The prosecutor said the rape was an "absolutely degrading" crime that had injured the victim, leaving her with a laceration and bruising.
He also read out a statement from the victim, who was described by Chief Justice McCallum as a naive person who had "an almost childlike way about her".
The woman said she had attempted suicide three times after the rape, and had moved house because Incandela knew where she lived and she no longer felt safe there.
She also described being "so scared he was going to get away with" the rape, which had resulted in her suffering nightmares and resorting to "comfort eating".
In his submissions, Mr Jackson told the court Incandela had run a business in Queensland despite being "almost illiterate" and enduring a dysfunctional upbringing.
He said Incandela had been moved to protective custody at the Alexander Maconochie Centre since his bail was revoked, attributing this to the 41-year-old having been "threatened by a number of inmates" who had read news stories about the rape.
Mr Jackson also told the court Incandela wanted to return to Queensland upon his release, but parole conditions may force the concreter to stay in Canberra without work.
He said no one would employ Incandela in the ACT "because of the media".
Chief Justice McCallum marked Incandela as a prisoner at risk after his courtroom antics caused her to become concerned about his mental health.
She indicated she would impose a sentence next Friday.
