A jury is expected to begin deliberations in the case of a former top executive accused of raping a Norwegian backpacker in far north Queensland.
The District Court in Cairns has heard Alan George Vico was a senior executive of Ports North — a Queensland government-owned corporation — when he allegedly picked up a young woman as she walked along a busy road, took her to a motel in the Cairns suburb of Earlville and raped her in September 2018.
The 56-year-old has pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, which began a week ago, the court heard the woman had been drinking heavily with friends before heading to The Woolshed nightclub in Cairns at 9.30pm, and was later asked to leave by security guards due to her level of intoxication.
Crown prosecutor Claudia Georgouras said the university exchange student had an estimated blood alcohol content of 0.229 when she left the nightclub at around 10.22pm.
She said the woman got into a taxi, but gave the driver her Brisbane address, and was ultimately dropped off on the side of Sheridan Street, where Mr Vico is alleged to have picked her up, and the pair travelled to the motel.
She said the woman woke the next morning and found an empty condom wrapper and a $20 note on the bedside table, with no memory of how she came to be there.
In her closing address, Ms Georgouras told the jury the woman did "not have the cognisant ability to give consent" and that the woman had suffered a "blackout" caused by intoxication.
"She didn't know what city she was in," Ms Georgouras said.
"She didn't know where her friends were, she couldn't have an intelligible conversation.
'It's not a Mills and Boon novel'
Defence barrister Harvey Walters told the court his client "honestly and reasonably believed she [the woman] was consenting" to sex.
He said his client used his full name, credit card and home address when checking in to the motel room because he "didn't have anything to hide".
He also told the jury that Mr Vico could have "got out of the car and taken her into the dark if he wanted to rape her".
"He could take her to a remote beach," Mr Walters said.
"He could have pulled into a cane paddock or a side road.
"This is a woman that doesn't have a single scratch, mark, bruise or anything.
"He wasn't sitting at a nightclub pouring the drinks down her throat and there's no suggestion that he slipped her a Mickey Finn [spiked drink]."
Mr Walters told the jury, "This isn't a court of morals."
"It is a court of law, you are not here to decide whether it was a nice thing for him to do," he said.
"You are not here to decide whether he should have had sex with someone because he was in a relationship.
"This case is about rape, it's not Love Story.
"It's not a Mills and Boon novel."
The trial before Judge Michael Rackemann continues on Tuesday with the jury expected to begin deliberations.
