A rapist whose attack on a teenager was interrupted by the victim's "detestable" cat has been sent back to jail following a failed appeal. Sunday school teacher Ropati Dominic Finau was last year found guilty of a single count of sexual intercourse without consent following a judge-alone trial. Chief Justice Helen Murrell found the Queanbeyan man had invited himself into his 18-year-old victim's Belconnen apartment before hitting the teenager in the face and raping her on a sofa bed in November 2018. The assault only stopped when the victim's cat, which has also been described as "terrifying", jumped onto the bed. Finau, then 24, was casually acquainted with the victim through work and had earlier been bar-hopping with her after a chance encounter. The powerfully built rugby union player has always maintained he and the young woman had consensual sex. He was sentenced to two years and six months in jail, with the balance of the term to be suspended after nine months behind bars. Finau served only 51 days, however, before being granted bail pending the outcome of an appeal. His appeal barrister, Bret Walker SC, earlier this year argued the guilty verdict was unreasonable and at odds with the evidence. He also alleged Chief Justice Murrell had "impermissibly and unfairly" introduced evidence into her deliberations, causing a miscarriage of justice. On Friday, three ACT Court of Appeal judges found Chief Justice Murrell had made "problematic" assumptions about likely sexual behaviours. "[But] the erroneous assumptions of the trial judge do not affect our own assessment of [Finau's] version of events," they wrote. "We would arrive at the same conclusions ... as that arrived at by the trial judge, albeit without reference to any assumption about the likely sexual behaviour of 18-year-old women in relation to 24-year-old men." The appeal judges found the victim's facial injury to be "compelling" evidence Finau's account should be rejected, noting he had offered no explanation for it. They ordered Finau be taken back to jail to serve the rest of the pre-suspension period. Finau will be released on a good behaviour order in February 2022. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: