Woman sent text messages to boyfriend before being sexually harassed by men on stag weekend in Newcastle, court told

A young woman messaged her friend “help me now” before she was sexually assaulted by a group of men during a stag weekend at an Airbnb in Newcastle, a jury heard.

WARNING: This story contains content that readers may find disturbing.

Brothers Maurice Hawell, 30, and Marius Hawell, 22, and another man, Andrew David, 30, are on trial in the New South Wales District Court accused of raping three women during a stag weekend on February 25 and 26, 2022.

It was previously heard in the proceedings that it was Mr David’s stag party which was being celebrated that weekend.

All three men will now stand trial in the New South Wales District Court after pleading not guilty to several charges: aggravated sexual assault in a company, aggravated sexual touching and attempted aggravated sexual assault in a company.

The public prosecutor’s office assumes that two 18-year-old women were attacked on Friday night and a 19-year-old woman on Saturday night.

Prosecutor Craig Evans argued that the three men were jointly involved in the alleged sexual assaults.

The third complainant, whose name cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, was called to give evidence on Wednesday.

The young woman said she met friends at the Cambridge Hotel on the evening of February 26 and left shortly afterwards to call another friend and then walked down the street to meet her.

She testified in court that she was using the speakerphone feature when an unknown man claiming to be Jonathon “ran out of the bush” and told her to “go have a drink with his friends,” to which she allegedly replied “no.”

Prosecutors said the man claiming to be Jonathon was one of the defendants, Maurice Hawell.

The plaintiff said Jonathon walked beside her as she continued down the street until they passed a glass door that led to an apartment where the man had lived.

The woman told jurors that she felt “unsafe” at the time because of Jonathon’s harassment and then sent a message to her friend, whom she was planning to meet, saying “Help me now” and “Reply.”

The plaintiff said that she then entered the apartment together with the man because she “thought it was safe” due to the loud music and assumed that there were several people on the upper floor.

Woman denies feeling “flattered” by invitation

Under cross-examination by Maurice Hawell’s defence lawyer Richard Pontello SC, the woman said she was “flattered” that Jonathon had shown interest in her, which she denied.

Mr Pontello then played audio from a surveillance camera showing the two on the street. The man could be heard asking her about her drink preferences and she replied: “Anything but beer.”

The woman admitted that even after consuming several alcoholic drinks earlier in the evening, she was “in complete control” of what she did and did not do.

The plaintiff stated that when she entered the apartment she was “confused” as to why there was only a man and a woman in the kitchen area.

“I was confused because I was told that there were people in the apartment having a drink before dinner,” the woman said in court.

“Jonathon took my hand and led me into a bedroom.

“I asked Jonathon where the pre-drinks were and Jonathon said, ‘We’ll get to that.'”

Plaintiff describes alleged assault

The woman said she was “scared and worried” when the man pushed her onto the bed and began to abuse her.

She told the jury that after about five minutes another man entered the bedroom and she saw him lying naked on the floor when the light was turned on for a brief moment.

The plaintiff became emotional as she told the jury that Jonathon then asked for a threesome, to which she replied, “what, no.”

She said both men then attacked her before another man entered the “dark” room and said something in a foreign language to the two men before she was allegedly filmed on a mobile phone.

The court heard that after the alleged attack, all the men left the bedroom and she later left the apartment.

Mr Pontello claimed that the sexual acts in the bedroom were all consensual, which the woman denied.

The jury was told that after leaving the apartment, the woman sent her friend a message saying, “I was literally raped.”

The woman said she then called her roommate, who met with her and told her to call the police.

The jury was shown a phone call made shortly afterwards by the woman with the note “0” in which she reported the alleged assault.

Police later visited the woman at home, where she presented her clothing as evidence and then showed them the location of the apartment.

The court heard that she subsequently visited hospital twice within two days, where swabs were taken from her body as evidence.

The trial will continue before Judge Gina O’Rourke.