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The first night
The court heard the first and second complainants met the buck’s party group at The Cambridge Hotel and went back to the Airbnb where there was consensual sexual activity, involving men including Maurice Hawell and David, before the women were allegedly grabbed in the dark as they collected their phones while intending to leave.
The first woman said her clothing was pushed up, and her arms held down, while the second woman described a “swarm of people” around her. Both women alleged they were then raped.
The Crown pointed to CCTV of Marius Hawell running back to the apartment four minutes after the two women had arrived.
The defence argued text messages between the two women in March 2022, after they had been approached by police and in which the second woman said, “I thought it was funny and all that until now, realising how dangerous and serious it is” indicated “nothing criminal occurred”.
Marius Hawell was accused of acting in a joint criminal enterprise with two men including his older brother.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The first woman said she had told police in her first statement that she had given full consent as she did not want to go through the court process and wanted to forget about it. Under cross-examination, she agreed she had pretended she was enjoying herself.
The second woman said she had been embarrassed and ashamed.
The second night
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Prosecutors alleged the third woman was persuaded into the apartment for pre-drinks by a man named “Jonathan”, which was a fake name Maurice Hawell conceded he had used, but the defence argued she attended willingly. The complainant alleged she was pushed down, saw a second naked man next to the bed, and that Maurice Hawell said “Threesome?” to which she replied, “What? No.”
The men allegedly then sexually assaulted the woman, pinning her shoulders down and swapping places.
The Crown alleged Marius Hawell entered the room, stood next to the bed offering “encouragement”, used his phone to illuminate the acts, and locked the door. The jury was played a phone intercept between him and a female relative from May 2022, during which prosecutors alleged he said “locked” or “were locked in”. The defence suggested he had said “walked”.
The court heard the woman spent 14 minutes and 40 seconds in the apartment, put her pants on the wrong way as she left, was sobbing when she told her flatmate she had been sexually assaulted and then called triple zero, prompting a police response and examination in hospital.
Maurice Hawell asserted the third woman had a motive to lie due to a fear she was filmed when involved in sexual activity with him and David and that it might end up online. However, the woman denied this was her sole motivation to go to police or that she had made up a false account.
Maurice Hawell testified during the trial, while the other two men exercised their right to silence. The defence argued the jury would not find the complainants to be reliable or truthful.
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Source Agencies
