01.28 pm, Sunday November 08 2009

MP's alleged rape victim 'dishonest'

19:03 AEST Wed Jul 15 2009
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Four years after allegedly being raped by Victorian MP Theo Theophanous, the alleged victim told a friend she would seek the politician's help in an unfair dismissal case, a court has heard.

The woman told the friend in 2002 she knew the MP socially and thought he might be able to help her get compensation.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court has previously heard the woman claim she was raped by Theophanous on the couch in his parliamentary chambers in September 1998.

On Wednesday, her friend told the court she thought the woman was "unreliable and dishonest".

She said she had doubts over the woman's unfair dismissal claims against her former employer, the education department.

She said she believes the school where the alleged victim worked dismissed her after it accused her of stealing school equipment.

"I was quite worried that despite her impassioned pleas to being the victim of school administration conspiracies against her, I felt I simply could not believe anymore what she was telling me," the woman said in a police statement tendered to the court.

"I was becoming concerned that her original plea for help in securing her teaching position had changed over time into a claim by her for some form of compensation."

The alleged victim next contacted the former friend in 2008 asking her for help in a rape matter and saying: "You know what happened".

The friend said she had no idea what the woman was talking about.

Another friend who introduced Theophanous to the alleged victim told the court on Wednesday she contacted the MP last year after police spoke to her about the allegations.

She said Theophanous gave her a different account of the events to that given to her by the police.

She said the MP told her the alleged victim had revealed intimate details to him about a relationship she was having in 1999, six months after the alleged rape.

"He told me that he had met (the victim) and that she had spoken (to) him about intimate sexual stuff regarding her relationship with (name deleted)," she said in a statement to police.

"I cannot understand any context in which you would reveal anything that personal to a man who raped you," the friend told police in an email.

The partner from the 1999 relationship also gave evidence on Wednesday.

He said he remained friends with the woman after their six-week relationship ended.

The man said he married another woman in 2001. However, the relationship ended after his wife received an email saying he was having an affair.

He suspects the email came from his former girlfriend.

Earlier, the court heard from the alleged victim's lawyer, Bruce Burdon-Smith, who said he was told by the woman she would be making allegations against a sitting MP and a government department and "this could be your retirement package".

The woman told him he would receive: "20 per cent or above if I get compensated".

The committal hearing before magistrate Peter Reardon continues on Thursday.

 
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