Adam Neville Powell: Geraldton man on trial accused of raping woman as she slept

A woman has taken to the witness box to testify that she woke up to a man raping her in her bedroom and rejected claims from the accused man that it was consensual. Geraldton man Adam Neville Powell is fighting charges he raped the 21-year-old woman and is standing trial in the District Court this week. Prosecutors told the jury that Mr Powell had sex with the 21-year-old victim as she slept in her home on the morning of September 18, 2020. The alleged victim told the court she woke up to the alleged incident in her bed and told Mr Powell to leave once she was awake. “I wouldn’t give consent if I was asleep, and I was asleep,” she said. Mr Powell pleaded not guilty to the charge of sexual penetration without consent before his trial began on Tuesday. During his testimony, he denied the woman was asleep, insisting the encounter was consensual. According to both the alleged victim and accused man, the woman invited Mr Powell, as well as a friend of hers, to her home for drinks, after the two had been socialising over the previous week. Mr Powell claimed the woman had consensual sex with him multiple times that night, which the alleged victim said was false. That morning, Mr Powell said that while the woman did not give verbal consent, she reciprocated his advances and he believed he had consent, contrary to the alleged victim who said she was asleep. The woman said the alleged ordeal had left her emotionally closed-off. Her mother, who also testified, said her daughter was visibly distraught when she told her what had allegedly happened. “She was very upset, nervous ... scared, not sure what to do ... I’ve never heard her like that,” she said. “You could just see she needed to cry.” A recorded phone call between the the alleged victim and accused was played as part of the prosecution’s case, in which the woman asked Mr Powell why he had done the alleged act. Mr Powell can be heard responding by neither admitting or denying the allegation, instead repeating that it was a “hectic night”. “It was just a hectic night, I don’t really know what you want from me,” he said in the phone call. Mr Powell said he regretted not denying the claim at the time of the call, stating he was stressed and “thinking on his feet” during the conversation. He said the accusations had left him feeling “pretty broken, pretty hurt”. “It does take an emotional toll,” he said. In his opening address, Mr Powell’s lawyer George Giudice argued the alleged victim’s account was not reliable, pointing to inconsistencies between the testimonies of Mr Powell, the alleged victim and her friend who was at the property that morning. For instance, the alleged victim said she had stopped Mr Powell from putting his arm around her the night before, while her friend said she had allowed him to. The jury is expected to deliberate on a verdict on Friday.