- Two-week sexual assault trial is coming to an end
- The 12-person jury retired to consider its verdicts on Friday
- Beale, 35, faces a charge of sexual intercourse without consent
- Two counts of sexual touching were also pleaded not guilty.
The fate of rugby star Kurtley Beale will be decided by a jury as they begin to deliberate whether he raped a woman in a bathroom and touched her sexually without consent in front of her fiancé.
The seven women and five men will stand down to consider their verdicts on Friday, following a two-week trial that included CCTV footage from the night and a phone call in which Beale apologized to the woman.
Beale faces one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching in the New South Wales District Court, following an incident at Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel in December 2022.
The woman, who cannot legally be identified, claims Beale touched her butt and forced her to perform oral sex on him in a bathroom stall.
After hearing legal instructions from Judge Graham Turnbull on Friday morning, the jury will be free to deliberate as long as necessary on the facts of the case.
The fate of Wallabies star Kurtley Beale will be decided by a jury as they begin to deliberate whether he raped a woman in a bathroom stall and touched her sexually without consent in front of her fiancé.
Beale, 35, faces one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching in the New South Wales District Court, following an incident at Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel in December 2022.
In her closing speech on Thursday, the rugby star’s lawyer, Margaret Cunneen SC, argued that the woman “invented the sexual assault to gain sympathy from her fiancé”.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have no hesitation in suggesting to you that (the alleged victim) is a manipulative woman who took charge of the circumstances of the night,” Cunneen said.
Cunneen said sexual assault is a terrible and abhorrent crime, which engenders sympathy for victims from those close to them.
“What’s also terrible is a false accusation of sexual assault,” he said.
“That is what has happened in this case, ladies and gentlemen.”
Crown prosecutor Jeff Tunks said it’s up to the jury whether to believe the woman’s version of events, including that she repeatedly told Beale “no.”
Tunks invited jurors to find that the woman was “firmly consistent” in saying she did not consent to any sexual activity with Beale.
“The crown’s case is that she is saying ‘no’ on more than one occasion,” he said.
Tunks added that the jury might have found the woman’s evidence had a “somewhat defiant” or “combative” tone, particularly during cross-examination.
She asked the jury to take into account the circumstances of her testimony after she was forced to divulge “extremely private and sensitive aspects of her personal life.”