Woman 'cried as de Belin raped her'
By
AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 13:18 AEDT, 3 November 2020 | UPDATED: 17:43 AEDT, 3 November 2020
NRL star Jack de Belin raped a teenager after ignoring her protests to stop undressing her and then asked why she was being "so emotional", a jury has been told.
The St George Illawarra player, 29, and his friend Callan Sinclair, 23, have pleaded not guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of a woman, then 19, after meeting her in Wollongong bar Mr Crown in December 2018.
Giving evidence on the opening day of the Wollongong District Court trial, the woman said she thought the trio was headed to another club in the early hours of December 9 before de Belin led the group to a North Wollongong unit "to charge his phone".
"I said I want to go home," the woman told the jury.
She initially told the men she'd wait outside for them before asking to use the bathroom, the court heard.
While on the toilet in a bedroom ensuite, the woman said de Belin walked in naked and began showering - causing her to exit quickly.
She was met in the dark bedroom by a clothed Sinclair, whom she'd kissed earlier in the night.
De Belin then untied her top from behind and shoved her on the bed, she told the jury.
Covering herself and saying "no, stop" as the men said "show us your tits", the woman said she felt the footballer removed the rest of her clothes.
"He split my legs open and put himself on top of me with his hand around my neck and resting on my collarbone," she said.
"And, um, then .... he put his penis inside me."
The woman couldn't recall how long that sexual encounter lasted, testifying she "was just going dead and numb inside and just let it happen".
"I only weigh 51 kilograms - they're twice the size of me," she said.
She said de Belin and Sinclair alternated positions, "cheering each other on".
"I just had tears out of my eyes the whole time," she said.
When Sinclair left the room, de Belin entered her anus and she screamed "stop" due to the pain.
She believed the footballer said sorry before he re-entered her vagina and choked her.
After de Belin finished, the woman told Sinclair she didn't want "any of this to happen".
De Belin asked why she was "being so emotional" and that she "can't tell anyone about this", she said.
The trio caught an Uber back into Wollongong's CBD, with de Belin handing the woman $50 "for the Uber and to keep your mouth shut".
The jury is expected to see CCTV from Mr Crown and Wollongong's CBD, including the woman dancing and playing with de Belin's hat.
Sinclair and the woman, who knew each other previously, kissed at the bar, with the woman describing it as "pecking" and "nothing serious".
In his opening address to the jury, crown prosecutor David Scully said the "friendliness" ended when the trio got back to the unit.
The woman complained to friends, family and work colleagues before making a formal police statement and agreeing to a medical examination on the afternoon of December 9.
Her DNA was later found in the unit.
The jury would hear intercepted phone calls involving the accused men in which they effectively accept sexual activity occurred but they say it was consensual, Mr Scully said.
De Belin's mother and sister, as well as a person "connected with" St George, may give evidence during the trial, the footballer's barrister, David Campbell SC, said.
He asked the jury to keep an open mind as things may at first appear "cogent, strong and accurate" but seem different as more pieces of the puzzle emerged.
The footballer "doesn't and never has" disputed sexual activity took place.
"The issue he is raising is: everything happened with the consent of those involved," Mr Campbell said.
Craig Smith SC, for Sinclair, echoed the statements about consent and reiterated his client didn't sexually assault the teenager.
"There is evidence both before and after that activity that is consistent with that activity being consensual activity," he said.
The trial continues.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-8907959/De-Belin-told-woman-mouth-shut.html
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