Kurt De Luis: Blacktown Sea Eagles footballer denies sexual assault at Oatlands
Joanne Vella, Parramatta Advertiser
July 9, 2020 1:59pm
Subscriber only
Parramatta Eel Reed Mahoney is due to front court as a witness on Thursday after his former housemate Kurt De Luis was charged with sexually assaulting a teenager at the Oatlands home they shared with fellow footballer Bevan French last July.
Aspiring NRL player De Luis, who used to play with the Blacktown Sea Eagles in the Canterbury Cup competition, was charged with three counts of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching without consent with an 18-year-old woman in the early hours of July 20, 2019.
Kurt De Luis (right) leaves court with a legal representative this week. Picture: Bianca De Marchi
The 24-year-old’s trial continued at Parramatta District Court on Wednesday, when a jury heard how a group of five women and three unknown men descended on De Luis’ double-storey home after a drug and booze-fuelled night at Parramatta’s Albion Hotel where De Luis snorted about 0.5g of cocaine and knocked back about 10 vodka lemonades. He had drunk about three beers earlier at the Rose and Crown Hotel.
The court heard Mr Mahoney did not take any cocaine and Mr French is not accused of drug-taking either.
The court heard how Mr Mahoney dropped off De Luis and Mr French at the watering hole where they had a farewell bash for Mr French a week before he left to play for Wigan in the UK Super League.
After leaving the pub, De Luis told police in a recording played to the jury that he and his “best friend” Mr French headed home about 4am when he said Mr Mahoney was sleeping.
At court, the jury viewed a recording of a police interview in which De Luis said he only met the women — including the one he is accused of assaulting — for the first time at his home, not the Albion, because other guests invited them back there.
De Luis was at the Albion Hotel before he went home and is accused of sexually assaulting a woman.
He repeated this when the Crown prosecutor and defence questioned him and said he only spoke to the alleged victim briefly about how they each had children, when he got to the property.
It was at the house that police allege De Luis sexually assaulted the woman in the downstairs bathroom.
During a tape recording played to the court and cross examination, De Luis provided graphic details of having sex with two women — the alleged victim and her friend.
De Luis’ best friend Bevan French. Picture: Dan Himbrechts
Reed Mahoney is due to speak as a witness in court after a sexual assault occurred in the house he shared with De Luis. Mr Mahoney does not face charges. Picture: Brett Costello
The court heard how Mr French and a woman were lying on his bed upstairs and De Luis then laid at the bottom half of the mattress with a woman before they left the room to have sex in the bedroom of Australian netballer Jamie-Lee Price, who was overseas at the time.
But after having consensual intercourse and oral sex he was not satisfied so he left the room and lied about returning because he “did not want to be rude’’ to the woman.
The court heard how De Luis went downstairs and opened the bathroom door after he heard a woman moaning and found the complainant having sex with Canterbury Cup footballer Jacob Esau.
Mr Esau is not facing any charges.
De Luis said in the police interview he joined the room where Mr Esau was digitally penetrating the woman but Mr Esau left.
“He then felt quite awkward because we were quite into it,’’ De Luis said.
De Luis
insisted the light was on and the woman knew she was having sex with him but denied anal sex.
“I was drunk but I knew exactly what I was doing.’’
He told the court she panicked when her friend — who he had sex with upstairs earlier — barged open the bathroom door and caught them together.
“Her friend stormed into the bathroom. She was like ‘what the f*** are you doing?’ because I was with her friend.’’
The two women then went to the driveway where Mr Esau and Mr Mahoney were before De Luis arrived.
Du Luis could hear the women screaming and Mr Mahoney shouting “f*** off.”.
De Luis told the court he thought the women were “arguing because they slept with the same bloke’’ but said the woman was upset because she mistook him for another man.
Mr Esau accused him of rape.
“I said ‘Don’t use the R word because I didn’t rape her’,’’ De Luis said.
“I didn’t stay very long after that, it threw me completely being accused of something like that.’’
Yesterday, Mr Esau took to the witness stand and denied switching off the lights in the bathroom.
After leaving the bathroom, Mr Esau said he followed the two women outside where he asked the alleged victim why she was crying.
“All I remember is she said ‘I thought it was you, I thought it was you’,’’ he told the court.
Earlier in today’s trial Hills Senior Constable Robert Margiotta told the court cocaine was found during a search of the Oatlands home a day after the alleged incident.
The trial continues.