A former police officer has been granted bail on choking and rape charges despite prosecutors raising concerns about his "pattern of control and violence" towards women.
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Nicholas James Villanueva was arrested in October, after he had already left the NSW Police Force and was charged with a series of offences against a woman in the months before.
The 30-year-old is now facing seven charges including choking without consent, recording an intimate video without consent, intimidation, using a carriage service to harass, threatening to distribute intimate images and two counts of rape.
According to police facts filed in the NSW Supreme Court, Villanueva grabbed the throat of his victim, who was in her late teens, during a consensual sexual encounter, squeezing until she couldn't speak and could barely breathe.
Two more times during sex, he allegedly commenced anal penetration without her consent.
During another consensual encounter, he allegedly began filming her with his mobile phone without her permission.
Although he deleted the video after the woman asked him to, he later recovered the file, the police facts say.
At a separate time, Villanueva is alleged to have threatened to kill himself and to ruin the woman's reputation by sending intimate images to her family and friends.
He also forbade her from leaving the country on holiday, threatening to be at the airport to stop her, the police facts say.
These offences were allegedly committed while Villanueva was serving a community corrections order after pleading guilty to two counts of common assault of a previous victim.
In April 2022, the ex-cop was with the woman at a bar in Sydney when he choked her on the dance floor.
She reacted in pain.
"You like it when you're in bed," he told her.
"We're not in bed, we're in public and I told you not to do it," she replied.
"You will do as you are told," he said.
He later violently pushed the woman off another man's lap as they were sitting on a bus going home from the nightclub.
On Wednesday, he applied for and was granted bail during a hearing in the NSW Supreme Court.
Crown prosecutors argued he should remain on remand where he had been for 124 days since his arrest.
There was a risk he could endanger the community by committing further offences because of his "pattern of control and violence" towards women, Justice Sarah McNaughton heard.
There was also a risk he could contact the complainant again or interfere with prosecution witnesses.
However, his barrister Tim Lowe said the proper bail conditions could mitigate these risks.
Mr Lowe said Villanueva had strong community ties, including an uncle who would let him work as a cleaner at his cleaning business if released.
A large number of his friends and family attended court on Wednesday as Villanueva appeared by videolink from Parklea prison.
Mr Lowe said his client would also accept a condition he be barred from dating apps while on home detention with a curfew.
Justice McNaughton acknowledged the Crown's concerns about the 30-year-old being granted bail, saying it was concerning he seemed to have a "sense of entitlement" with women.
However, the bail conditions proposed, including weekly reporting to police, and a prohibition that he leave the house alone, reduced any risks to acceptable ones, she found.
Villanueva has to surrender his passport, and his family will forfeit a surety of $2000 if he fails to attend court in the future.
He will next appear at Penrith Local Court on March 15.
Australian Associated Press
