A man accused of raping an Australian flight attendant in the early hours of New Year’s Day has been refused bail before a hearing in Fiji’s high court.

Ilaisa Tanoa Degei, 24, a farmer from Navosa, on Fiji’s largest island, Viti Levu, appeared before a magistrate, Mareta Tikoisuva, charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of rape.

Nadi magistrates court heard allegations that in the early hours of the new year Degei sexually assaulted and digitally raped the 21-year-old Virgin crew member, from Melbourne.