A Queensland lifesaver has pleaded not guilty to raping a 21-year-old woman at a Gold Coast surf club three years ago.
Key points:
- Connor Buhk has pleaded not guilty to rape
- He’s accused of raping a woman in a surf club in 2020
- He is being tried by a jury on the Gold Coast
Connor Buhk, 25, was charged over the rape of a female lifesaver at the club in September 2020.
The woman and the club cannot be identified for legal reasons.
On the first day of the trial in the District Court at Southport, Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Kelso told the jury Mr Buhk and the woman had attended the club’s presentation night before the offence allegedly occurred.
The court heard some of the “younger cohort”, including Mr Buhk, decided to stay back to continue drinking after formalities had finished around 9pm.
Ms Kelso said the woman did not join in because she was “so intoxicated” that her mother and friend put her to bed.
“She had made good use of the bar tab to the point that she had been cut off,” Ms Kelso said.
The court heard the woman was taken to a room upstairs at the club where she slept.
Various members, including the woman’s parents and her friend who attended the event, also made arrangements to stay in separate rooms at the club that night, Ms Kelso said.
Father met with accused
The court heard that after midnight, some people in the group thought Mr Buhk had had enough to drink and encouraged him to go to bed upstairs.
Ms Kelso told the jury the woman estimates she woke up around 1:30am to a man on top of her and having sex with her.
The woman could not tell whether he had used a condom as the room was dark.
The prosecutor said as the woman pushed the man away, he spoke and she recognised his voice to be Mr Buhk.
The court heard that the woman told friends and her mother shortly after what had happened.
The following morning, the woman told the president of the surf club about the alleged incident before being taken to Robina Hospital by her mother for an examination.
Ms Kelso said Mr Buhk was asked to meet with the woman’s father to discuss what allegedly happened with his daughter the night before.
The jury heard that Mr Buhk told her father that on the way to the toilet he saw the woman standing in the doorway of a room.
He said they started kissing before going into the room together, and explained that they tried having sex but he could not get an erection “due to the state of his intoxication.”
The trial continues and is expected to conclude this week.