A high-profile lawyer representing Wallabies star Kurtley Beale has slammed his accuser as being “manipulative” and a “very good actress” after sexual assault allegations.
Mr Beale, 35, is dealing with 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.
Police allege Mr Beale groped a lady’s backside on the Beach Road bar in Bondi on December 17, 2022, earlier than forcing her into oral intercourse within the stall of the boys’s rest room.
In her closing deal with on Thursday, Mr Beale’s lawyer, Margaret Cunneen SC, informed the jury sexual assault was “distasteful and repugnant”, however her shopper was not responsible.
“What is also terrible is a false allegation of sexual assault, a false allegation made to try and change the dynamic in one’s own difficult time in life,” Ms Cunneen mentioned.
“I don’t shrink from suggesting (the complainant) is a manipulative woman who curated circumstances of the night to turn the tables, to turn herself into a victim.
“Someone who everyone had to feel sorry for and support because that’s what people must feel if it is their sister, daughter-in-law who has been sexually assaulted.”
Ms Cunneen informed the jury the girl’s fiance had admitted in his proof that the couple had been on the “lowest point in their relationship” following an argument.
She additionally hit again at claims by the Crown that Mr Beale might have demonstrated a responsible conscience throughout a secretly recorded cellphone name a couple of month later.
The girl first put the allegations to Mr Beale within the name, with the rugby star initially stating the pair had connected, earlier than admitting he “misjudged the situation”.
“Of course there’s a guilty conscience, his wife knows what’s going on in the telephone call. If you are looking for a guilty conscience, of course you’ll find it,” she mentioned.
“But, if a guilty conscience is about something done in marriage, that’s not ideal and is nothing to do with a guilty mind about a serious criminal offence”.
She added later that: “Its not anywhere in that call does he (Mr Beale) concede or agree that on the night he thought she wasn’t consenting.”
Ms Cunneen went on to inform the jury the girl was “a very good actress” who manipulated Mr Beale who “genuinely believed she had given and communicated consent”.
“When she says to him on the phone, when she spoke something different, Mr Beale says ‘well I must have misread the situation’. That’s what he’s saying,” she mentioned.
Ms Cunneen mentioned with out CCTV “we would probably have set a false account that she followed (Mr Beale) into the toilets … who follows who matters”.
The jury heard the girl informed her associate’s household that it had been the feminine bogs, not the boys’s, and others that it was Beale who adopted her in.
In his submission, Crown prosecutor Jeff Tunks informed the jury that what “the accused says is something in general conversation might amount to a guilty conscience”.
“You might think he (Mr Beale) sounds worried, he sounds contrite, he sounds conciliatory and speaks to her in a calm way to hear her out,” Mr Tunks mentioned.
“You might think generally he reflects and appears to be aware of the gravity of the situation. And, you might think at no stage does he seem to apportion any blame to her.”
Mr Tunks urged the jury throughout his two-day deal with to contemplate the proof “holistically” regardless of contradictions within the girl’s proof given in court docket.
“She tells people over the next few days about what she says happens. And, again, it’s clear she’s given different accounts about different aspects to different people,” he mentioned.
“The effect of what she says happened to her on the night, if you accept that’s what did happen to her, may effect her that night, the next day – the way that she acted.”
In his deal with, Mr Tunks reminded the jury of proof from the 29-year-old’s fiance, who informed the court docket he woke the morning after to her “bawling her eyes out”.
Her father, in the meantime, mentioned his daughter “looked distressed … in pain”, whereas her sister-in-law, in whom she confided in regards to the allegations, mentioned she was “frazzled”.
Mr Tunks took the jury by all three prison prices on Thursday, together with allegations Mr Beale spun the girl round within the stall and bent her over.
In her proof, the girl informed the jury that Mr Beale used his thumbs to bend her over and mentioned “Do you want to f**k?” earlier than she righted herself and left.
“There is nothing inadvertent or accidental that he grabs her this way and spins her around and bends her forward while his penis is still out of his pants,” Mr Tunks mentioned.
For her half, Ms Cunneen dismissed the allegation as being “absurd”, saying there was not time for it to have occurred. Likewise, she dismissed the groping declare as “blink and you’ll miss it”.
On Wednesday, Mr Tunks urged the jury to contemplate the girl’s model of occasions without having to just accept all her proof in court docket, stating she struck a “defiant” tone.
“If nothing else, you might think she was somewhat staunchly consistent in her assertions to you that she did not consent to any sexual activity with the accused,” he mentioned.
Later, he added: “You might think she presented in cross-examination as a somewhat watchful and defiant witness. Perhaps, you might think, to the point of her being combative.”
The jury has been offered a variety of proof through the two-week trial, together with proof from the girl’s family and friends in addition to CCTV footage.
For her half, Mr Beale’s lawyer, Margaret Cunneen SC, has argued that the girl consented to and was “in control” of the encounter, which she used to get sympathy.
In cross-examination, Ms Cunneen grilled the girl, her fiance, and her household over an argument between the pair all through the week of the alleged assault.
The trial continues on Thursday.
Source: www.news.com.au
