By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — Lawyers for the Australian farmer charged with raping a 21-year-old woman at a Midtown hotel grilled her Wednesday, arguing that the woman's response to the alleged attack didn't make sense.
The defendant, David Green, 29, was extradited from Australia last year to face charges for the rape, which he allegedly committed while vacationing with friends in Manhattan five years ago.
His accuser told the jury that she woke up from a night of drinking on Aug. 15, 2005 to find Green thrusting himself inside of her. She said she had "blacked out" and could not remember how she had ended up in his hotel room. Other Australian tourists as well as her friend were also in the room when she awoke, she testified.
The woman then recalled leaving the hotel room with her friend. They discussed what had happened over a cigarette outside the hotel — the Affinia Hotel, near Penn Station — and then went to the front desk to find out the Australian's room number, according to her testimony.
When the front desk said they couldn’t provide that information, the witness said she and the friend returned to the hotel room and knocked on the door.
In court on Wednesday, Green’s lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, suggested that these were not the actions of a person who had just been raped.
"Why didn't you tell the hotel, 'There’s a rapist inside'?" Fischetti asked the witness, continuing this line of questioning for several minutes. "What are you doing [returning to the room], pounding on the door [if] there’s a rapist inside?"
The witness responded that she "wanted to be sure of the room" before alerting the authorities, which she did later that morning, according to court documents.
Fischetti also spent a significant portion of the cross-examination questioning the witness about her history with drugs and alcohol. The woman, who was 21-years-old at the time of the alleged incident, admitted that she’d begun treatment for cocaine abuse one month earlier.
She said at the time she was not using cocaine, though she had been drinking. She was also taking prescription drugs to suppress her cravings for the drug, according to her testimony.
The trial will continue Thursday. Green faces up to 25 years in prison if he's convicted of rape.
