Wolf Creek actor says he did not rape woman in 1976 and had not been drinking the night of the alleged incident

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The actor John Jarratt has told a jury he was seduced into having consensual sex with a Sydney housemate who 40 years later accused the Wolf Creek actor of raping her.

The 66-year-old has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman in 1976 at the Sydney house they shared with his wife, Rosa Miano, and at least one other person.

The woman, who went to police in 2017, has testified she was woken about 3am when Jarratt ripped off her bed covers and underwear, unzipped his fly, pinned her down, covered her mouth with his hand and raped her.

Giving evidence in the New South Wales district court on Thursday, the actor said he arrived home about 10.30pm after a meeting with a director, went to the bathroom and walked towards the room he shared with his wife.

He said he then heard loud whispering from the housemate who beckoned him into her bedroom.

Jarratt said he agreed when the woman told him “it must be exciting making movies”.

She went on to say she had recognised him, when she first came for the housemate interview, as the actor from Picnic at Hanging Rock.

“She found me attractive and, from there, there was, I feel, a seduction,” the actor said. “I, unfortunately, participated in that. I willingly had sex with her and she willingly had sex with me. It was consensual.”

The housemate testified that she could smell alcohol on his breath but Jarratt said he did not drink that night as he was driving.

“I never drink and drive, all my life.”

Under questioning from his barrister, Greg James QC, Jarratt said after the encounter there was no further intimacy or any animosity between them.

He said about seven years later, in a “truth session”, he told his wife he had a one-night stand with the woman.

The first he heard of any rape allegation was when his agent rang him in November 2017, saying there was going to be a newspaper story, he told the court.

Under cross-examination from prosecutor John Bowers, Jarratt agreed he had not used the word “seduction” in the detailed statement he read to police in 2018.

“These sorts of situations are spontaneous,” he told the jury. “Someone has got to lead.”

The actor denied deliberately changing his account of how the sexual intercourse came about.

Bowers said it did not happen as a result of any seduction initiated by the woman but because Jarratt forced himself on her after going into her room with no warning, when she was asleep, ripping her clothes off and pinning her down.

“I didn’t rape her,” Jarratt said. “What you are describing is fantasy to me.”

The actor Cassandra Magrath told the jury she had played a woman who was tortured and murdered by Jarratt’s character in Wolf Creek.

Their roles had been very intense, she trusted him and he had never behaved inappropriately, she said.

“He expressed to me his disgust and horror at that particular type of behaviour towards anybody and his grief for the parents of people who had gone through similar things to what we were performing in the film.”

The actor Chris Haywood testified that Jarratt was held in high esteem in the industry and was regarded as honest.

The trial continues.