Wallabies star Kurtley Beale has been discovered not responsible of allegations he sexually assaulted a girl within the toilet of a Bondi bar after a gruelling two-week trial.
Mr Beale, 35, confronted a jury trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre Court after pleading not responsible to sexual activity with out consent and two counts of sexual touching.
The jury rejected claims that Mr Beale groped the lady’s backside on the Beach Road bar on December 17, 2022, earlier than forcing her into oral intercourse within the males’s toilet.
Barrister Margaret Cunneen SC claimed the 29-year-old lady had consented to and been “in control” of the encounter and had made the allegations to realize sympathy.
“I don’t shrink from suggesting she is a manipulative woman who curated circumstances of the night to turn the tables, to turn herself into a victim,” she stated on Thursday.
She later added: “This is a woman who is a very good actress. She is manipulating (Mr Beale), she is putting words in his mouth. Mr Beale doesn’t lie, he didn’t lie.”
In her closing tackle, Ms Cunneen targeted on one of many key features of the trial: a secretly recorded cellphone name throughout which Mr Beale first realized of the accusations.
In the decision, the lady advised Mr Beale she had not consented to the sexual act. At first, he stated the pair “hooked up”, earlier than admitting he had “f*****g misjudged the situation”.
Ms Cunneen advised the jury on Thursday Mr Beale ‘s reading of the situation on the night – before the call – was that the sexual act in the bathroom stall was “all consensual”.
“He genuinely believed she had given and communicated consent … When she spoke something different (in the call), Mr Beale says he must have misread it,” she said.
Earlier, she said: “Of course there’s a responsible conscience, his spouse is aware of what’s happening within the phone name. If you might be in search of a responsible conscience, in fact you’ll discover it.
“But, if a responsible conscience is about one thing completed in marriage, that’s not splendid and is nothing to do with a responsible thoughts a couple of critical prison offence”.
Critically, Ms Cunneen stated the decision went to police not having proved one in every of three parts of the offence, being that he would have recognized the lady didn’t consent.
The jury have been additionally proven handwritten notes, which have been made by the lady earlier than the decision, wherein she wrote that its objective was to “convince him he is guilty and not innocent”.
In her tackle, Ms Cunneen dismissed the groping cost as being “blink and you miss it”, and stated an alleged second act within the toilet stall was “absurd” as a consequence of timing.
During her proof, the lady vehemently denied Ms Cunneen’s assertion she used the claims to realize sympathy from her fiance, with whom she’d had a critical argument.
Ms Cunneen went on so as to add the lady was unable to concede disparities between her statements to police and admissions to her household, and the CCTV footage performed courtroom.
Notable within the defence case was the declare by the lady quickly after the night time that it was Mr Beale that adopted her into the toilet. The video proved in any other case.
The footage, performed in courtroom, captured the boozy night time on the well-liked Sydney bar, together with the 4 minutes and 30 seconds Mr Beale and the lady spent collectively within the toilet.
The jury have been advised each her and Mr Beale have been intoxicated on the night time, however have been advised by Mr Tunks they weren’t allowed to contemplate it.
For his half, Crown prosecutor Jeff Tunks advised the jury the lady had offered as a “defiant” witness who was “somewhat staunchly consistent in her assertions”.
Mr Tunk had inspired the jury to contemplate accepting elements of the lady’s proof, with out having to just accept all the things she stated in courtroom or to police and household.
The judgment marks the top of a gruelling multi-week trial for the jury, who deliberated for about one hour. They heard proof from the lady, her fiance, her household and her fiancés household.
Importantly, it marks the top of one-year courtroom saga for Mr Beale after he was stood down from the NSW Waratahs by Rugby Australia after his arrest in January 2023.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
