By Sarah McPhee
The lawyer for a man accused of gang-raping three women has told a jury that text messages from one complainant about initially finding the night “funny” are evidence nothing criminal occurred.
Maurice Hawell, 30, was celebrating his buck’s weekend at an Airbnb in Newcastle West in February 2022 with a group of men including his younger brother Marius Hawell, 22, and Andrew David, 30.
Maurice Hawell is on trial in Downing Centre District Court accused of the gang rape of three women.Credit: Dean Sewell
The three men are accused of acting in a joint criminal enterprise to gang-rape two 18-year-old women on the Friday night and a 19-year-old woman on the Saturday night. They have pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault in company, attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault in company and aggravated sexual touching.
The court has heard the first two women were contacted after the third woman went to police.
In a closing address in Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday, Maurice Hawell’s barrister Richard Pontello, SC, took the jury to texts between the first and second complainant, which he said established the second woman “thought what had happened in the apartment was funny”.
He said at about 11am on March 8, 2022, after speaking to police, the second woman messaged the first woman that she had “a lot of emotions going through me after speaking to those guys” and “had a massive breakdown”.
Andrew David leaves the Downing Centre District Court.Credit: Dean Sewell
She added: “I don’t think the situation funny any more.”
The first woman replied: “It has scared me and I don’t know whether to hide my emotions or just let it out.”
The second woman said: “Like, I thought it was funny and all that until now … realising how dangerous and serious it is.”
Pontello argued the messages undermined the woman’s credibility as a truthful witness.
“The text messages beg the question, if [the second woman] was sexually assaulted as she claims, if she was forced to have sexual intercourse without her consent, then how on earth could she have ever found it funny in any way?” Pontello said.
“The text messages point to only one conclusion: that is [she] found the events funny because nothing criminal occurred.”
He said one of the complainants from the Friday night also referred to the situation as an “orgy”.
“That conversation alone would cause you to have a reasonable doubt about the guilt of Maurice Hawell,” Pontello said.
David’s barrister Sharyn Hall, SC, said the jury needed to consider steps taken around consent, arguing her client asked “appropriate questions … at all times”.
She said the first complainant had accepted in her evidence “that she acted like she was consenting”.
Prosecutors say the first two women engaged in consensual sexual activity in the apartment before they were attacked in the dark, while the third woman was allegedly persuaded inside and pushed onto a bed before multiple men appeared.
The trial continues before Judge Gina O’Rourke.
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