A man used “boys will be boys” as his defence after being charged with the manslaughter and sexual assault of mother-of-seven.
Adrian Attwater is on trial for the 2011 manslaughter of Lynette Daley, who died on Ten Mile Beach in January 2011.
The court heard that the accused “repeatedly and vigorously” sexually assaulted his “on-again-off-again” partner at the remote northern NSW beach on an Australia Day camping trip.
Attwater later told police “girls will be girls, boys will be boys”, in an interview played to the NSW Supreme Court in Coffs Harbour on Monday.
Attwater pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter and sexual assault of the 33-year-old mother, as did his friend Paul Maris, 47, who joined the couple on the camping trip. He also pleaded not guilty to hindering the discovery of evidence.
Crown Prosecutor Philip Strickland SC said in his opening address to the court that “all three of them drank a lot of alcohol on that day”.
Mr Strickland then accuses Attwater of getting on a mattress in the back of Maris’ troop carrier with Ms Daley where he “repeatedly and vigorously” sexually assaulted her.
Maris joined in on the assault at Attwater’s invitation, the barrister told the court, the pair only stopping when Attwater noticed blood on his hand.
The Crown said Maris later burnt Ms Daley’s bra and mattress “because it stank”.
Confronting photos shown in court saw Ms Daley with severe injuries that caused significant blood loss, leading Mr Strickland to claim that the assault “substantially or significantly contributed to her death”.
The prosecutor said Attwater told police “she was blind, she was off her f***ing face last night”.
Ms Daley’s autopsy revealed she had a small amount of methylamphetamine in her system and a blood alcohol level of 0.303, leaving her “grossly intoxicated” and unable to consent to sex, Mr Strickland said.
Mr Strickland also said multiple witnesses and experts would attest to Ms Daley’s extremely drunken state, leaving her most likely “in a stuporous state or unconscious”.
He said one witness would testify they had seen the three outside the Foodworks supermarket at Iluka earlier in the day.
Mr Strickland said Maris said to the witness, “hey mate can you do us a favour? … Can you drop this thing somewhere down the road for us”, pointing to Ms Daley.
Contrary to the prosecution, Attwater claims Ms Daley had gone for a swim while naked and had a fit or seizure in the water and he dragged her back to shore and performed CPR.
When police questioned how that led to the three having sex, Attwater said: “These things happen … girls will be girls, boys will be boys.”
Maris also said the sex was consensual, with Mr Strickland telling the court he told police: “Well she didn’t object when I jumped in the back, she’d moved over to give me oral.”
The trial will run for six more weeks.
