Court: “Imaginative” story of the accused party rapist

A man accused of raping three teenagers on his stag do in an Airbnb gave a “fanciful” account of the sexual encounters that was “not credible”, a court was told.

Andrew David, 30, and brothers Maurice Hawell, 30, and Marius Hawell, 22, have pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated sexual assault in company, attempted aggravated sexual assault in company and aggravated sexual touching.

The men were celebrating Maurice’s upcoming wedding with a stag party in Newcastle one weekend in February 2022 when they allegedly sexually harassed three women.

Prosecutors allege that the trio attacked two 18-year-old women on Friday night and a 19-year-old woman the following night.

Maurice and Mr. David deny that the sexual activities took place without their consent, while Marius claims he was not involved in any of the sexual incidents during the stag weekend.

The trio faces a trial lasting several weeks in the District Court of New South Wales on charges of allegedly forming a joint criminal association.

On Monday, prosecutor Craig Evans said the jury should ignore Maurice’s “fanciful” statements during the trial.

“That is not credible. That is not credible. That is not conclusive,” he said.

In his account of Saturday night, Maurice said he approached a 19-year-old woman on the street and she agreed to come with him to the Airbnb accommodation to have sex with him.

Mr Evans said the evidence was “completely at odds with contemporary evidence”, including video footage of the meeting and text messages the woman sent to a friend saying she was “in danger and needed help”.

There’s more to come