The fate of rugby star Kurtley Beale will be decided by a jury, as it begins deliberating whether he raped a woman in a toilet cubicle and sexually touched her without consent in front of her fiance.
The seven women and five men will retire to consider their verdicts on Friday, following a two-week trial that included CCTV footage of the night and a phone call in which Beale apologises to the woman.
Beale is facing one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching in the NSW District Court, following an incident at Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel in December 2022.
The woman, who cannot be legally identified, claims Beale touched her backside and forced her to perform oral sex in a toilet cubicle.
After hearing legal directions from Judge Graham Turnbull on Friday morning, the jury will be free to deliberate for as long as necessary on the facts of the case.
In her closing address on Thursday, the rugby star’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC argued the woman concocted the sexual assault to gain sympathy from her fiance.
“Ladies and gentleman, I don’t shrink from suggesting to you that (the alleged victim) is a manipulative woman who curated the circumstances of the night,” Cunneen said.
Cunneen said sexual assault is a dreadful and abhorrent crime, garnering sympathy for victims from those close to them.
“What is also a terrible thing is a false allegation of sexual assault,” she said.
“That’s what has happened in this case ladies and gentlemen.”
Crown prosecutor Jeff Tunks said it is up to the jury whether they believe the woman’s version of events, including that she repeatedly told Beale “no”.
Tunks invited jurors to find the woman was “staunchly consistent” in saying that she did not consent to any sexual activity with Beale.
“The crown case is she’s saying ‘no’ on more than one occasion,” Mr Tunks said.
He added the jury might have found the woman’s evidence to have had a “somewhat defiant” or “combative” tone, particularly during cross-examination.
He asked the jury to keep in mind the circumstances of her testimony after she was forced to divulge “extremely private and delicate aspects of her personal life”.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
