A Sydney dance instructor accused of physically and sexually assaulting a woman on a Pacific Island says it simply did not occur.
Felix Azarias Lara, also known as DJ Gato Felix, has pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing serious harm to an Australian citizen while in Noumea, New Caledonia in July 2015.
Lara and the woman were in the French territory putting on a Kizomba dance event and were staying in the same hotel room, on separate beds.
After his requests to have sex with her over a number of days were rebuffed, Lara started yelling at her and asking her who she was seeing, crown prosecutor Trish McDonald SC told NSW District Court.
The Parramatta man allegedly carried the woman into the hotel bathroom and dropped her into a running bathtub, demanding her to have sex with him.
As she struggled to climb out of the bath he pushed her down into the water, then pushed her against a wall by the throat as she tried to leave the room, Ms McDonald said.
Finally, she relented, and Lara allowed her to leave to the bedroom, where the pair allegedly had sex.
Ms McDonald said he was reckless in causing the woman serious harm as he was aware of a substantial risk his conduct would result in emotional distress.
"He was aware that he was having sex with (the woman) against her wishes," she said on Thursday.
But Lara's barrister, Luke Brash, told the jury what she told police had happened, including the sexual intercourse, "simply did not occur".
"The starting point in this case is whether this conduct that is alleged occurred and the defence alleges it didn't," he said.
He said any issues of serious harm to the woman that arise from the alleged assault, including a psychiatrist's diagnosis that she had post traumatic stress disorder, are irrelevant as a result.
After the alleged incident, the woman changed hotel rooms to stay with another woman they were travelling with, who was a dance partner of Lara.
"There is no doubt to suggest there was animosity from (the woman) and (the dance partner) towards Lara," Mr Brash said.
Lara, 38, is on bail after he was arrested in 2022 following an international investigation by Australian Federal Police.
AFP Leading Senior Constable Rachel Poole gave evidence on Thursday that she took photos and measurements in 2018 of the Noumea hotel room where the pair stayed after the Australian government lodged a mutual assistance request with New Caledonian authorities.
The trial continues.
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