Woman wanted to send sailor sorry message

A Darwin woman who alleged she was raped by an American sailor wanted to send him a message apologising "for everything", a court has heard.

Hugh Patrick Malone, 23, was ported in Darwin on the USS Denver on September 4 last year when the alleged offence occurred.

He has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, indecent assault and depriving a woman of her liberty.

That evening he had been out drinking with two other sailors and three local women they had met earlier that week, when he left Monsoons Bar in Darwin's CBD to have intercourse with Rhyannon Roman.

Ms Roman told the Supreme Court that when they returned to the bar, she saw her friend, who is the complainant, "dancing upon (Malone) and then they were holding hands when they left" to go to his hotel room, where the alleged assault took place.

Ms Roman said her friend was "drunk, but she knew all the way what she was doing".

She said the complainant knew who Malone was, having been introduced to him earlier.

But her evidence was contradicted by Martell Davis, another sailor from the USS Denver who had been having a casual relationship with the complainant.

He told the court Malone asked her to accompany him on her way to Davis's hotel room, to see if any of her or Ms Roman's belongings were there before he checked out, but then pulled her into the empty room and assaulted her.

He stopped when she began to cry and she ran to Davis's hotel, the court heard.

"She came banging on the door and screaming," he said.

"She told me that some guy that had slept with Rhyannon, her friend, attempted to rape her."

He said she didn't know Malone's name and called one of her friends to check.

Under cross-examination he admitted he had been "a little upset" when he discovered earlier that week that she had slept with one of his co-workers, although they were not in a monogamous relationship.

He encouraged the complainant to detail the alleged assault so he could report it to his superiors on the ship, he said.

He denied when asked by defence counsel Tom Berkley that he found the girls to be "easy" or that he planned to pick up women while in port.

"We were just blowing off steam (by going out), it wasn't 'I'm going to find the first or easiest girl I can'," he said.

At some point after the alleged assault, Ms Roman told the court, the complainant asked to use her Facebook account to send Malone a message.

"She said, 'can you tell him I'm sorry for everything'," Ms Roman said.

The trial continues.