Alleged rape victim came home in underwear

3 Feb 2012, 5:57 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A woman allegedly raped by a Melbourne taxi driver arrived home in her underpants, a court has heard.

A woman allegedly raped by a Melbourne taxi driver arrived home after a night of heavy drinking with her jeans over her shoulder, a court has heard.

The cabbie, Rajveer Singh, 23, is accused of raping the woman after picking her up from a hotel in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond on November 21, 2009.

Singh's trial in the Victorian County Court heard that the woman had been drinking with friends after work at the hotel before taking the taxi home.

In a police interview played to the court, the woman's teenage son said he felt frightened when his mother returned home drunk between 2.30am and 3am in her underpants, with her jeans over her shoulder and her boots in shopping bags.

"I was really, really scared, because I knew something was wrong with her," the son told police the day after the alleged assault.

"I've seen her drunk and this was not like her."

The son said he asked her why she wasn't wearing her jeans, but she was so confused she replied that she was wearing them.

The son said he rang his mother's male friend, with whom she had been drinking at the pub, to ask how she came to be in such a state.

He said the friend grew concerned and asked his mother on the phone if she had been sexually assaulted and she replied that she had.

The son then asked his mother if she had been raped and she answered that the taxi driver had raped her.

The court heard police were called shortly afterwards.

Earlier, prosecutor Tim Hoare said in his opening address that the jury would hear evidence that DNA swabs taken from the alleged victim matched that of Singh.

The trial would also be told the taxi driver's GPS tracking system indicated his vehicle had remained in the woman's street for almost 20 minutes at the time of the incident, Mr Hoare said.

The prosecutor told the jury the woman had drunk four to five glasses of wine on an empty stomach and was seen swaying on CCTV footage captured outside the hotel.

The prosecution case was that Singh raped the woman while she was asleep, unconscious or so affected by alcohol that she was incapable of consenting, Mr Hoare said.

Defence barrister Aaron Shwartz said the woman would tell the court that she had no recollection of the night's events from the moment she left the hotel until she was in hospital.

"You don't get an account from her as to what occurred in the car," Mr Shwartz said.

He said it was not in dispute that the driver and the woman had intercourse, but the issue was whether or not she had consented.

Singh, of Niddrie in Melbourne's northwest, has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape.

The trial, before Judge Frank Gucciardo, is to resume next week.

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