A young girl pleaded not guilty to five charges when her trial began in the ACT Supreme Court. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to suicide, mental health and sexual assault.
A teenage girl is facing a trial accused of raping and assaulting her ex-boyfriend before encouraging him to take his own life just before he attempted suicide.
The girl, who legally cannot be named due to her age, attended the same Canberra school as the boy and had a short-term relationship with him when she was 14 and he was 15 in 2022.
A few days after they broke up, she began sending him numerous messages, prosecutor Tamzin Lee said during her opening submissions when the ACT Supreme Court jury trial began on Monday (8 September).
These messages allegedly included, “No one likes you any more bro”, “You’re a baby, you constantly whine about everything”, “Usually I say people can change, but not you” and “KYS”.
‘KYS’ is an abbreviation that can mean ‘kill yourself’.
The boy then attempted to take his own life, but was discovered and taken to hospital.
Ms Lee alleged this attempt was partly due to being encouraged or “egged on” by the girl.
“She was there, she was in his ear, she was in his head,” the prosecutor alleged.
She also alleged the boy had been the victim of physical and sexual violence earlier in 2022 when he and the girl were still in a relationship.
“If I ask you to picture a violent relationship … You wouldn’t immediately conjure the image of a 15-year-old boy as the victim and a 14-year-old girl as a perpetrator,” she told the jurors.
“We know now that anybody can be the victim of family violence, that anybody can be the victim of sexual violence.”
A few weeks into their relationship, the pair were watching a film together at his home.
“For no reason and completely out of nowhere, she turned over and punched me right in the face, dead square in the nose,” the boy alleged to police when they interviewed him in 2023.
On another occasion, the boy went over to the girl’s home and they had consensual sex.
The boy said he went to sleep afterwards, but was allegedly woken up before she started to orally rape him.
“That’s when I told her to knock it off and just get off me,” he told police.
“The reason why I didn’t say anything more was just that I was in shock.”
That same day, it is alleged the girl scratched the boy across his back, leaving scars.
Ms Lee told jurors they would hear evidence of the girl allegedly being “very rough” to the boy during the relationship, which the girl described as “playfighting”.
In the 2023 interview, the boy told police he saw issues in their relationship after several weeks.
“I could slowly see more of [her] personality. A lot of it was aggressive, emotionally and physically,” he said.
“Multiple times when [she] got too aggressive, I told her to stop and she said she wouldn’t.”
He alleged that during their relationship, she would repeatedly scratch, kick and bite him, leaving marks or bruises. She would also allegedly drag him around by his hair or ear and would throw her phone at him.
Defence barrister Richard Edney, who represents the girl, told the jurors his client’s position was “crystal clear”.
“She denies each and every allegation,” he said.
“What I say on behalf of [the girl] is you keep an open mind, you wait until you’ve heard all of the evidence.”
The girl pleaded not guilty to single counts of inciting suicide, sexual intercourse without consent and stalking, as well as two counts of assault.
The trial continues before Chief Justice Lucy McCallum.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
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