Two regional Victorian men will be sentenced for a second time after they were found guilty of rape by a Victorian County Court jury.
A Melbourne jury has found Shaun Phillip Bloomfield, 28, and Luke John Merryfull, 27, guilty of raping a woman at a party near Balmoral, south-east of Horsham in western Victoria, in April 2016.
The court heard dozens of people had been drinking at the property before some of the partygoers retired to bed in the early morning.
The then 20-year-old victim was invited to sleep in a caravan at the property by a female friend.
The court heard a number of friends had talked and mucked around in the vehicle before the victim was left alone with the two men.
Woman says 'no way' to threesome
The court heard the woman, who was a friend of both men at the time, was trying to get to sleep when Merryfull, then 21, suggested a threesome.
The woman told the men "no way".
The court heard she had no intention or interest in having sex with either of them and wanted to go to sleep.
Prosecutors told the court the victim rolled away when one of them got into bed with her and gave no indication of wanting sex.
The court heard after the rape, Merryfull told Bloomfield in words to the effect of "Your turn" or "She's all yours".
The men pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
Their defence lawyers argued both men reasonably believed the woman consented.
'New evidence' a fabrication: prosecution
The two men were found guilty by a Geelong jury in April 2019, but their convictions were overturned on appeal on the basis of "new evidence".
A witness, who collected the victim from the property after she made a call in distress to her daughter, gave evidence at a committal hearing in 2017 for the first trial.
The witness came forward with new information the day after the men were jailed in 2019, claiming the victim had expressed doubt about whether she consented to the sexual activity in the hours afterward.
The court was told when she asked the woman if she gave consent to having sex with the men, she replied, "Luke maybe, not Shaun."
The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial in 2020 on the basis of her evidence.
During cross-examination this month, the prosecution accused the witness of "fabricating" the claim because she was disappointed the men, one of whom was extended family, were sent to jail.
The witness vehemently denied the allegation and said it was a "blatant lie".
A police officer, who served in Balmoral at the time of the alleged incident, told the court the witness was an upstanding member of the community.
But the prosecutor told the jury to disregard the woman's evidence because she "was not a witness of truth".
Neither of the men gave evidence earlier this year during the six-day retrial, which heard mostly pre-recorded evidence from about a dozen people.
Court hears victim rejected advances
In closing arguments, the prosecutor told the court the woman's behaviour during and after the rape was "consistent with her having not consented".
"They clearly had the message that she wanted none of this. I urge you to accept she did say 'no' and she did show she didn't want sex with these men."
The prosecutor dismissed the defence's argument that the woman lied because she was embarrassed about being in the caravan with the two men.
"It was suggested that somehow moments or minutes after these two men left the caravan after having sex with her, this woman immediately began contacting people in order to falsely state she had been raped, for the purposes of covering up the fact she had consensual sex with them," the prosecutor told the court.
Representing Bloomfield, defence lawyer Rishi Nathwani told the court "people often do things they regret".
"In the caravan lots of people were present. All of the close friends [were] seeing and observing what was happening and were happy to leave," he said.
"[One man's] evidence was that he saw [the woman] being cuddled by Luke Merryfull, and she wasn't protesting. He indicated it might be a good time to leave," Mr Nathwani said.
Bloomfield was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
Merryull was convicted of one count of rape.
Despite objection from the prosecution, the pair will remain on bail until they reappear in court for sentencing on December 12.
