A jury has this week found a man guilty of indecently assaulting a woman and attempting to choke her inside her own home, after rejecting his claim that the encounter was a prearranged agreement for sex in exchange for money.

The complainant-then 48- told the court that the accused entered her yard uninvited on the afternoon of August 23, 2022, while she was outside feeling unwell and her boyfriend was not home. Thinking he had left, she began doing laundry — only to discover he-then 34- was still on the property. When she declined his offer to help and told him she had no alcohol, juice or money to give him, he groped her on three separate occasions, forced her into the kitchen and demanded sex. When she refused, he choked her.

With no one else at home, she kept her composure — asking him to step outside to turn off the washing machine before locking the kitchen door behind him. He did not leave. CCTV footage shown to the jury captured him reaching through the louvres of the front door to let himself back in. She fled outside screaming. The footage showed her on the ground with him standing over her before a neighbour intervened and told him to leave.

The accused told the jury an entirely different story — that the visit was prearranged, that he had paid her $90 for an agreed encounter, and that he re-entered the house only to recover his money. The jury did not believe him and convicted him on both counts.