Mount Isa veterinarian Edward Charles Butterworth, 45, has been found guilty of assaulting and raping a woman in Karumba in 2015.
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A 12-person jury found the married father-of-three guilty of three counts of sexual assault and one count of rape in the Mount Isa District Court on Thursday.
The woman, who will not be named for legal reasons, came to Mount Isa on a two-week university placement during July 2015.
Butterworth was her supervisor.
He will serve 12 months behind bars for the crime Judge Ian Dearden described as “disturbing to say the least”.
Butterworth sat silently as the jury of nine men and three women handed down their verdict after about two-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
He was sentenced by Judge Dearden to two years and three months for the sexual assaults and two-and-a-half-years for the rape, to be served concurrently.
His sentence will be suspended after one year.
Butterworth’s wife, who was present throughout the trial, remained composed during the Judge’s sentencing.
In tears, she embraced her husband once court adjourned.
Judge Dearden said the verdict would be “profoundly sad” for the family as Mr Butterworth was the “sole breadwinner”.
The victim first raised the complaint with police in August 2015, but Butterworth was not informed of the accusations until April 2017 during which time he borrowed a significant amount of money to fund the purchase of a cattle property – unaware he was under criminal investigation for rape.
Judge Dearden acknowledged the delay in police laying charges had caused “catastrophic” financial problems for the Butterworth family.
The jury heard throughout the three-day trial that the attack occurred during a work trip to Karumba, about seven hours north of Mount Isa, after the pair shared a few drinks and watched the State of Origin.
Butterworth bet the victim $20 he could “make her boobs move without touching them” – before he did in fact touch them.
That “trick” was the first sexual assault he was found guilty of.
Shortly after, the student retired to her room for the evening.
Butterworth admits he entered the woman's bedroom naked, touched her breasts and vagina with his hand and performed oral sex on her.
That act constituted two more counts of sexual assault and rape, as his tongue had penetrated her.
During the trial, four friends of the victim gave evidence of the woman’s “shaken” and “withdrawn” demeanour upon her return to Brisbane.
Four Mount Isa men including Father Mick Lowcock were called to the stand as character witnesses for Butterworth on Wednesday afternoon.
Two female character witnesses gave evidence over the phone.
They were asked to testify to Mr Butterworth’s “general reputation in the community”.
The accused’s brother Joseph Butterworth described him as a “strong family man” with a “very good reputation” in the Mount Isa community.
During his closing argument defence lawyer Michael Hibble told the jury, even if they accepted the victim had not consented, they could still return a verdict of not-guilty based on an “honest but mistaken belief”.
“You may accept that Mr Butterworth was honestly mistaken in thinking she was consenting,” Mr Hibble said.
However, the jury disagreed.
The victim was not present in court when the verdict was delivered.