One woman described a boyfriend who, during their weekend, ran out of a bush and convinced her to join his friends at an Airbnb apartment where she said she was gang-raped.
Miss C is the third alleged victim to testify in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court against three members of a stag party accused of raping the teenage girls.
Maurice Hawell, his brother Marius Hawell and their friend Andrew David have pleaded not guilty to a series of charges including aggravated sexual assault.
Miss A, Miss B and Miss C told the jury they were subjected to a series of sexual assaults, but cannot identify which men were allegedly responsible.
Miss A and Miss B were 18 when they say they were raped at the same time in a Newcastle flat rented by nine men for a singles weekend, while Miss C says she was abused there the following night.
Both had been drinking before their alleged attacks at the nearby Cambridge Hotel.
Maurice Hawell, 30, and David, 28, say any sexual relations they had were consensual and deny engaging in certain acts, while Marius Hawell, 22, insists he did not engage in any sexual activity at all.
The three men, all from Sydney, are facing trial together for participating in a joint criminal enterprise.
One woman described a boyfriend on a money weekend who ran out of a bush and convinced her to join his friends at an Airbnb apartment where she said she was gang-raped. Maurice Hawell (above) is one of three men who have pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault.
The Hawells, David and six other friends booked accommodation on Airbnb in Newcastle from Friday 25 February to Sunday 27 February 2022, ahead of Maurice Hawell’s wedding.
On Saturday night, Miss C, 19, left home at around 7.30pm and headed to the Cambridge, after having a drink of gin and soft drink and drinking two Vodka Cruisers.
He bought two cans of Smirnoff Double Black in the pub, met up with some friends and a few hours later went out to call another friend who was coming to the hotel.
“As I was walking down the street a man ran out of a bush on the side and spoke to me,” Miss C told the jury.
‘He said he should go have a few drinks with his friends. I said no. I told her that she was talking to my friend who she was talking to on the phone. He said for him to bring her with her.
“He asked me what my name was and I said (part of Miss C’s name) and I asked him what his name was and he said Jonathon.” The Crown says Jonathon was Maurice Hawell.
Miss C said Jonathon repeatedly asked her to meet him and his friends at his flat. “I said no and that I would meet my friend.”
The Hawell brothers and their friend Andrew David (above) were with six friends on a stag weekend in Newcastle, in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. Three women told police they had been victims of sexual assault, but they cannot identify the men allegedly responsible.
As Jonathon continued to walk alongside Miss C, he sent a message to their shared house group chat that referred to her being “kidnapped.”
Miss C clarified that she had not literally meant that she had been kidnapped, but rather that the message was sent with the intention “just to make them aware.”
“I just felt insecure because of Jonathon’s discomfort,” she said.
When Miss C arrived at the front of the Bucks group’s apartment, she sent another message to the friend she was supposed to meet that said, “Help me now.” Answer’.
“(Jonathon) told me his friends were upstairs having drinks,” Miss C told the jury.
“I thought it would be safe to do it because I heard loud music up there, so I assumed there were people there too.”
Miss C said that when she entered the flat with Jonathon there was another man and a woman in the kitchen. The court previously heard that a woman had arranged to meet a member of the Bucks group on a dating app.
“I was confused because they told me there were people having drinks in the apartment,” Miss C said.
“Jonathon grabbed my hand and led me into a bedroom.”
Maurice Hawell, 30, and Andrew David, 28, say any sexual relations they had were consensual and deny engaging in certain acts, while Marius Hawell, 22 (above), insists he did not engage in any activities. sexual.
Miss C said the light was on and there was no one else in the room.
“I asked Jonathon where the pre-drinks were and Jonathon said, ‘We’ll get to that,'” Ms. C said.
Miss C said Jonathon used two hands to push her onto the bed, then stripped naked, turned off the light and got on top of her. “She was quite anxious and scared,” she said.
After Jonathon removed most of Miss C’s clothes and began kissing her, the bedroom door opened and the light flickered on and off, the jury was told.
Miss C then looked to her right and saw a naked man lying next to the bed.
“I still felt scared and anxious and wasn’t sure why that man was there,” she said.
‘Jonathon said, “Trio?” He said it out loud. I said no”.
Miss C said Jonathon and the other man, who the Crown said was Andrew David, then sexually assaulted her at the same time and eventually swapped positions.
Each of the women who claim to have been raped in an Airbnb apartment rented by a group of men over a weekend had been drinking at the nearby Cambridge Hotel (above).
Miss C said she could not get out from under the men on top of her or protest verbally.
“I heard the bedroom door open and another man came in,” she said. The Crown says Marius Hawell was the third man.
Miss C said she saw a light on a mobile phone the third man was holding and asked Jonathon if he was filming them. Jonathon said no.
After the three men left the bedroom, Miss C got dressed and walked to the kitchen, where the woman she had seen earlier asked her if she was okay.
“I said I just wanted to leave,” Miss C said.
Miss C said she left the building, put her underwear behind a box near the front door and tried unsuccessfully to call two friends.
The third person he called Miss C, his housemate, answered and she told him she had been raped.
This crime scene photo taken by police shows the living room of the Airbnb rented by the men. Miss A and Miss B say they were raped in the middle room shown with the door ajar.
When Miss C arrived home, she called triple zero and told the operator what had happened at the apartment, in a description that referred to a fourth man.
Police arrived and took Miss C back to Cambridge and then to John Hunter Hospital and then made a formal statement outlining the alleged rapes.
During cross-examination by Richard Pontello SC on behalf of Maurice Hawell, Miss C agreed that she had followed Jonathon to the flat, but denied being “flattered” by his interest when they met in the street.
Miss C admitted that she had told the police that Jonathon had grabbed her wrist at the front door of the apartment and that she had tried to get away from him, but that was not true.
He insisted that he did not expect anything sexual to happen when he arrived at the Airbnb or when he first entered the bedroom.
Maurice Hawell and David are charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one count each of aggravated sexual touching of another person and attempted aggravated sexual assault in company.
Marius Hawell is charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one count of aggravated sexual touching of another person and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault in company.
The trial, before Judge Gina O’Rourke, continues.
