Hobart Hurricanes’ Indian-origin player Nikhil Chaudhary has been found not guilty of raping a woman outside a nightclub in North Queensland. He stood trial in the District Court in Townsville, charged with one count of rape, this week.

Crown prosecutor said Chaudhary met the 20-year-old woman on the dance floor at Townsville nightclub The Bank in May 2021. The pair kissed and danced at the club and went to Chaudhary's car, where as per the prosecutor Chaudhry took advantage of the woman.

"It's one thing to kiss and dance and agree to go home with someone. It's another to [digitally penetrate someone] without warning,” Crown prosecutor Shannon Sutherland was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

She said the woman had been left bleeding, indicating a degree of force. The court heard the woman was seen distraught and crying after her friends banged on the window of the car. The woman gave evidence in a closed court on Monday afternoon, while Chaudhary elected not to give evidence.

On the other hand, defense lawyer Claire Grant said the complainant's allegation was exaggerated. She mentioned that the accuracy of the woman's memory of what had happened in the car was doubtful as she had been drinking that night.

Grant denied that penetration occurred, claiming that any sexual encounters in the car were consensual and that there was no evidence that Nikhil Chaudhary caused the woman's injury. She reminded the jury that the complainant accepted to go home with Chaudhary, implying that she intended for sexual contact to occur.

"You don't agree to go home with someone at three in the morning … for a cup of tea," she said.

Grant said her client was confused, intoxicated, and may have been embarrassed, saying there had also been a language barrier, and said he had asked police, what sexual assault was.

(Australian Broadcasting Corporation inputs)