The complainant in a rape trial had "to fight to be believed over a dog bowl", after the doctor she had accused of sexual assault lied to the court about a pet being present on the night in question.
"No line of questioning left me more confused than when I was questioned about his dog," the woman told the ACT Supreme Court on Monday.
"I started doubting my memories. This doubt spread to all areas of my life."
While rape and sexual assault charges against Imran Kaden have been discontinued, the former surgical registrar has pleaded guilty to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The other charges against Kader, 39, were discontinued after two juries were unable to reach verdicts in two separate rape trials.
Kader had been accused of indecently assaulting a nurse with a toothbrush, then raping her after first meeting at a Braddon bar in November 2019.
The prosecution had alleged Kader tried to physically prevent the nurse from leaving his apartment by throwing her into a wall near a door and momentarily holding her there.
In the first trial, which began in February 2022, Kader gave false evidence, saying his dog, named Schnitzel, was living with him at the time of the alleged rape.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Kader said during his evidence that it would not be possible for the nurse to have been pushed against the wall "because there was a large cabinet there, and also the large tub of dog food".
Kader has also admitted to sending an email in June 2022, ahead of his second trial, to a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons.
In the email to the woman, he wrote: "There were one or two things that I stated in my evidence that wasn't true. The main thing was regarding the dog."
On Monday, the woman read a victim impact statement out to the court. She said the email was "full of coercion for me to change my evidence".
"I have suffered at the hands of a man who lies, intimidates and threatens those in his path and I believe he will continue to behave this way unless he pays the consequences of his behaviour," she told the court.
The nurse who had accused Kader of rape also read a victim impact statement on Monday.
She said that during the trial she had been cross-examined for multiple days and had post traumatic stress disorder from the ordeal.
The nurse told the court "gaslighting" was "a part of trials and cross-examination".
"[Kader] was perfectly happy sitting there and watching me being tortured over this.
"I had to fight to be believed over a dog bowl while he was lying the whole time."
In her sentencing submissions, prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea argued Kader should be sentenced to time behind bars for "the sustained lie".
"He thought it would make it more likely that he would be acquitted because it made the complainant seem less credible," Ms Saikal-Skea said.
The prosecutor told the court Kader had previously been found not guilty by a NSW jury of two other sexual intercourse without consent charges, involving a different alleged victim, in 2008.
Kader's barrister, James Maher, argued his client's lie was motivated by a fear of wrongful conviction.
"The offender has already maintained his innocence [of the rape allegations]," Mr Maher said.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum is set to hand down her sentence at a later date.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
