Court pushes ahead with rape trial for accused cop Ankit Thangasamy

A police officer facing an imminent sexual assault lawsuit has not put off delaying it after a judge ruled he had ample time to prepare his defence.

Ankit Thangasamy has been accused of knowingly having sexual intercourse without consent.

The complainant cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The alleged incident took place at a Haymarket bar in Sydney’s CBD on December 17, 2021.

Thangasamy attempted to have the upcoming May 8 trial, expected to last about four weeks, vacated because he was not given enough time to prepare his defense case.

“The essence of the petition is about the late service of voluminous and complex material which I cannot deal with in the time we now have for the trial,” he told Downing Center District Court in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon.

The prosecution’s message came too late and documents were missing, leading him to file an application earlier in March that “apparently sparked a flurry of activity.”

Since then, he has received more than 50 documents of more than 1,200 pages, another two hours of CCTV footage, thousands of files totaling 32GB on a USB and a CD containing intercepted phone calls that he has been denied access to, Thangasamy said.

“It’s hard to give a full outline of what was received because it was served in such a haphazard way,” he said.

“It’s just constantly changing.”

Judge Gina O’Rourke noted that he received the CD nearly two weeks ago.

“You’ve had it for 12 days, how did you not make it work? That’s 12 days wasted, isn’t it?’ she said.

Thangasamy said he explained the matter to the detective who provided him with the CD and was “looking through other materials.”

Judge O’Rourke said Thangasamy was calling and should not be surprised by its contents.

He said it was presumptuous to assume he was indeed a party to the talks – although he doesn’t expect to dispute this at trial – before he had a chance to view the recordings.

“Could we stick to the issues a little more… haven’t you got all the material?” asked the judge.

“That’s also disputed,” Thangasamy said.

The judge said he has had enough time to review documents related to the case handed to him 12 days ago

The judge then asked the Crown.

“He has received the relevant calls and has been invited to ask about others,” prosecutor Gabrielle Steedman said.

One document was updated on Tuesday and another on March 17, Ms. Steedman said.

Thangasamy argued that the material was complex and voluminous.

“I don’t think it’s too complicated,” Judge O’Rourke said.

“You have chosen to represent yourself… it can be difficult to lead a sexual assault lawsuit,” she said.

An attorney and attorney were quoted $100,000 a week and Legal Aid told him “there’s no chance in hell” they’ll fund his defense, Thangasamy said.

“I have already found information that I think I can fairly honestly say affects the complainant’s credibility,” he said.

“You can use that if you interrogate her through a third party,” Judge O’Rourke said.

Granting the request to vacate his trial would be “incorrect” as it would take more than a month for it to begin, and as the vast majority of the material has long since been served, the judge said.

Thangasamy is expected to present his defense case to the Crown on April 13.