Fair Game?
TICKY FULLERTON, REPORTER: On an October evening in London, a group of Australian footballers was out on the town. The Walkabout was one of the favoured watering holes. It was the end of the AFL footy season, 1999, and the Brisbane Lions had every reason to party. From the wooden spoon a year earlier, they had reached the finals. One footballer had arranged to meet up with a friend. She was an Australian woman and the girlfriend of his best mate back in Brisbane.
SARAH: Well, I'd only been in the country for four days and my boyfriend's best mate, who I also went to high school with, he was like, "Yeah, you've got to come down and meet us when we're in London." I hadn't been to London before - it was my first time, so I was really excited and, you know, absolutely happy to see him as well - a friendly face.
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: They were in the same place at the same time and suggested that they catch up and have a drink. This was my best friend and my girlfriend.
TICKY FULLERTON: The best friend, Scott, was late. The woman in her early 20s, who we'll call Sarah, waited at the bar. She remembers talking to one Brisbane Lions player in particular.
SARAH: Adam was flirting with me. I basically just ignored him because I didn't know him from a bar of soap and just kept talking to the barman. I was polite, I wasn't rude to him but I didn't really pay much attention.
TICKY FULLERTON: Tonight, for the first time, Sarah speaks publicly about what she says took place that night. It's part of a much bigger story that raises serious questions about football rape, hush money, and how these cases never get to see a jury.
At the Walkabout Inn, London, Sarah remembers a big night of drinking.
SARAH: Scott eventually turned up and we had a few drinks, played a bit of pool. The rest of it is pretty much a blur. I don't remember leaving the pub.
TICKY FULLERTON: Sarah's home was two hours drive from London and she was in no state to make the trip. Instead, Scott offered to put her up in his hotel room.
SARAH: I hadn't drunk that much in a long time and I probably hadn't eaten most of the day so I was very much out of it. I do vaguely remember being in a taxi. I don't remember much about being at the Walkabout. I do remember vomiting at one stage. I don't remember going back to the hotel.
TICKY FULLERTON: Sarah's boyfriend was back in Australia at the time but later heard accounts of what happened in this hotel from both Sarah and Scott.
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: She was ready to pass out. He was in a state where he was able to help her home. Yeah, I've been...I've been told that she fell...she fell asleep fully clothed, as did he. She was on the bed, he was on the floor.
TICKY FULLERTON: Sarah believes she was asleep about three hours. What she remembers next was clear. It would be any girl's nightmare.
SARAH: (Sobs) Sorry. Um... (Sighs)
TICKY FULLERTON: Take your time. It's OK.
SARAH: The next thing I remember, um, was waking up with, um...with Adam on top of me. Um...and then I remember being on my hands and knees. And he poured something on my back. I didn't know what it was. I remember seeing Scott lying on the floor at the end of bed and I remember trying to reach him and grab him and shake him.
TICKY FULLERTON: Sarah's story becomes even more disturbing. While she was on the bed, she says there were at least four and maybe more Lions players in the room, watching.
SARAH: I remember seeing other people in the room. It was a small room with just two single beds and a small bathroom, and I remember there were two other people on the bed next to me, and I remember seeing some people sitting on the floor down near where Scott was at the end of the beds.
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: They'd either let themselves in or were let in...afterwards. He did have a roommate. They were...they were sharing a room, so there was definitely someone else who...who would've had access to the room or rightful access to the room. They were just in the room... Whether...whether...whether they were watching, waiting...for their turn...exactly what they were doing, I'm not too sure. They were in the room while it happened.
TICKY FULLERTON: But no-one was stepping up to try and stop this?
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: No, certainly not.
TICKY FULLERTON: Now she talks about her ordeal dispassionately, almost as if it had happened to someone else.
SARAH: I remember when he tipped whatever it was on my back, I just remember saying, "Don't ---- me up the arse. Please don't ---- me up the arse." And I remember him saying, "No, I won't." And then the next thing I remember, I was...I was dressed. Uh...my clothes out of my bag. I don't know who dressed me, and someone was holding my hand and we were standing at the door, and, um...they were leaving. I remember someone tweaked my nipple as they went past.
TICKY FULLERTON: A couple of days later, Sarah's boyfriend in Brisbane got a phone call. To protect Sarah, his identity is also obscured.
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: She...she was crying. She was...she was very upset, and I was asking her what was wrong, and she was a bit reluctant to tell me, but she basically just asked me to imagine the worst thing that could possibly have happened to her.
TICKY FULLERTON: Four years on, Sarah is in no doubt she was raped, and in no doubt of the rapist.
SARAH: The person who raped me was Adam Heuskes. I know it was Adam, because I met him in the pub earlier when I was completely sober, and I recognised his face when I was lying on my back and he was on top of me. And I...I, you know, I did recognise his voice and I know it was him who turned me over and put me on my hands and knees.
TICKY FULLERTON: Adam Heuskes is a former All-Australian defender who has played for three AFL clubs. Sarah is not the only woman who accuses Adam Heuskes of rape. The morning of Sarah's alleged assault, she woke up very distressed.
SARAH: I remember saying to Scott, "What happened last night? What the hell happened?" And he was just like, "I don't know." I remember him telling me to go on the morning-after pill or to go get the morning-after pill.
TICKY FULLERTON: The best mate, Scott, would not talk to Four Corners. He told Sarah's boyfriend that he was passed out through the whole thing.
What about your best mate?
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: Certainly not a best mate anymore. Um...he was my best friend of 15 years and, uh...and for him to...to...for him to...for him to betray the trust that was put in him, not only by my girlfriend but...but by me, um...yeah, we certainly won't be...be...be friends again.
TICKY FULLERTON: That morning, Sarah checked in to the nearest hospital. After tests, the hospital advised her to contact the police.
SARAH: I didn't want to. I refused. Um...I was too scared. You know, I didn't know what happened. I didn't remember much at all. It was all very sketchy. Um...it took me two weeks to get the courage to go to the police.
TICKY FULLERTON: By the time the British police heard from Sarah, the Brisbane Lions were back on home turf. But the police took the allegations seriously enough to fly to Australia and interview the footballers. It would be six months after the London incident that their statements were finally taken - in April 2000. Their story was very different from Sarah's, and they had all the power of the club behind them, and a law firm that boasts the largest defence criminal practice in Australia.
MICHAEL BOSSCHER, BRISBANE LIONS LAWYER: I represented a number of players, and I represented the interests of the club.
TICKY FULLERTON: So you represented the club as well?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: Yes.
TICKY FULLERTON: The club and the players contacted by Four Corners declined to speak directly to the program.
Do you think that's the club hiding behind its lawyer?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: No, it's simply the case that an allegation was made and it wasn't proven. They will support them at the allegation stage. They won't do or say anything that is going to protect them from something they may have done wrong. They're a big business. An AFL club or a league club is a big business and it reflects poorly, even at the allegation stage, on the club.
TICKY FULLERTON: The club's strategy appears to have been to say as little as possible about the London incident.
She says she fell asleep and woke up to find at least five other Lions players in her room when she was assaulted. Does that sound to you like a likely scenario for consensual sex?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: Well, you're asking me to speak about a hypothetical situation. Uh, the issue that was raised and the allegation was made was sex took place without consent. That was not sustained and was not sustainable.
TICKY FULLERTON: The girl says she can remember a liquid being poured onto her back. She says she can remember clearly at one point begging Adam Heuskes not to anally rape her. Does that sound consensual?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: Again, you're putting things to me that I can't really comment on.
TICKY FULLERTON: British police will not discuss the case. Sarah says police told her that Adam Heuskes admitted to meeting her and having sex with her, but that the sex was consensual. Sarah strongly denies this.
SARAH: I mean, what woman in her right mind would say yes when she was, you know, A, had her period and B, had a tampon in? When I woke up the next morning, I was still very, very drunk, um, and I was in shock. And I remember just, you know, running into the bathroom, thinking, "sh*t, what...?" You know, "What kind of damage could that have done?" I couldn't get it. It took a while. I mean, they told the police a hell of a lot more than I could. But not once did they say, "Yes, she was saying yes, she wants to."
TICKY FULLERTON: The issue of consent makes rape cases very difficult to prosecute. Most never get to court. In Sarah's case, it was her word against the players'. As we'll see in this and other cases where there is more than one man involved, rape is even harder to prove.
VANESSA SWAN, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SERVICES AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE: I would think that in a situation where there's three or four, and particularly, three or four famous, high-profile people, um, saying that, in fact, the woman is lying, then that would be a very difficult situation to, um, you know...to keep your courage.
TICKY FULLERTON: To this date, the club's lawyer won't even admit that sex took place between Sarah and any player. Sarah says the British police were surprised to see the club lawyer representing all the players.
Does the representation of many players by one lawyer create a perception of collusion by those players?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: It can. Um, it's not uncommon for...at least at the investigation stage, for one person to represent a number of people. Uh, I, being the principal of the firm, represented all of them, but I wasn't present for all the interviews that took place.
TICKY FULLERTON: If you can't comment about the allegations made by her, who can?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: She can make comment, and obviously has, to you. Uh, those people who were present at the time could comment if they were willing to. I don't see any reason why they should or why they should be asked to.
TICKY FULLERTON: Another person who would not speak is a club trainer who Sarah says checked to see if she was alright on the morning of the alleged rape, while she was taking a shower. When contacted by Four Corners, he refused to confirm or deny these events.
SARAH: I remember him saying, "Is she alright?" And Scott just said, "Yeah, she's fine. Yeah, she's fine."
TICKY FULLERTON: What did it say to you - the fact that a member of the team had come round in the morning to check on your girlfriend?
SARAH'S BOYFRIEND: That also goes a long way, in my mind, to saying that...that he had an idea of what went on the night before.
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: I have not heard that allegation.
TICKY FULLERTON: Doesn't that also add weight to the fact that this might not have been consensual?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: No. Quite clearly, you've got to understand that whatever allegations this girl made, um, were considered by learned prosecutors who decided that they could not reliably put that information in front of a jury.
TICKY FULLERTON: In August 2000, the British Crown Prosecutor decided not to proceed with charges against any of the Brisbane Lions, now AFL premiers for three years running. Neither the Crown Prosecutor nor the police will comment on a case where charges are not laid.
It's my understanding that most of the players that were in the room at the time are still playing for the Brisbane Lions. Is that correct?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: I can't confirm that for you.
TICKY FULLERTON: You can't confirm that?
MICHAEL BOSSCHER: No.
TICKY FULLERTON: The names of the players, precious assets of the Brisbane Lions, have been kept secret. And Michael Bosscher says no penalties were ever handed out. Just before the case was dropped, Adam Heuskes left the Brisbane Lions. It was a surprise in football circles, but the official line is he left of his own accord. What happened next raises more questions about club management.
The same month that the London charges were dropped, Heuskes was accused of rape a second time. Again there was a bar, alcohol and more than one player involved. This time, there were charges. Heuskes had moved to Adelaide and met up with a former team-mate from his Port Adelaide days, Peter Burgoyne.
MARK BRAYSHAW, FORMER MARKETING MANAGER, PORT ADELAIDE FOOTBALL CLUB: Adam Heuskes was a player at Port, so was Peter. Then Adam left the club and so I'm sure they were pretty thick friends during and after the period that they played together.
TICKY FULLERTON: The night in question, Heuskes and Burgoyne caught up with a third player, Sydney Swan Michael O'Loughlin, here at the Heaven nightclub. About 10:30 that evening, a woman we'll name 'Jane' arrived at the nightclub with friends.
JANE'S COUSIN: She's very quiet. She's an introvert, certainly not out-there, um, not one of the groupies that, you know, people would see hanging off the footballers.
TICKY FULLERTON: Jane has signed a confidentiality agreement, which gags her from talking about the night. However, Four Corners has obtained a taped interview, made in the presence of her lawyer in 2001 before the confidentiality agreement was signed. Again to protect her identity, we have revoiced her interview, word for word.
That night, the 20-year-old had had far too much to drink - eight or nine beers. At around midnight, she was introduced to Adam Heuskes.
(TAPED INTERVIEW PLAYS)
JANE: One of my friends went over there first. There was...they asked if they could talk to me, so I went over there and started talking to them, but...
MAN: The three of them?
JANE: Uh, first there was... I spoke to Adam Heuskes.
TICKY FULLERTON: By the time she was speaking to Peter Burgoyne, Jane was very drunk.
MAN: And it was then you started to black out?
JANE: Yep.
MAN: What happened after that?
JANE: Well, I felt... When I was standing there with Peter Burgoyne, then they started kissing me and stuff.
MAN: Peter Burgoyne did?
JANE: Yep, and then he called Michael O'Loughlin over. And then he started kissing me as well.
MAN: The two of them?
JANE: Er, yeah.
TICKY FULLERTON: At about 1:30am, Jane was feeling unwell. Peter Burgoyne offered to take her for a walk. She agreed.
JANE: So as far as I knew, it...it was a walk but he just grabbed my arm, and...sort of walking very briskly, so I was stumbling out behind him.
TICKY FULLERTON: Jane says Peter Burgoyne led her across the road and into the parkland.
JANE: And then they...they walked me, like, down deep into the parkland.
MAN: Peter Burgoyne did?
JANE: Yes, Peter Burgoyne took me out and the other two followed. I sort of thought, you know, "What are they doing?" and "Where are we going?"
TICKY FULLERTON: According to Jane, in an isolated spot, the two followers, Adam Heuskes and Michael O'Loughlin, caught up. She says her clothes were ripped off, her bag thrown away. She was forced to the ground, tossed around like a rag doll and raped.
MAN: Were you raped?
JANE: Yes.
TICKY FULLERTON: On the same tape, Jane's lawyer describes all three players being involved in sexual abuse.
MAN: You were absolutely positive it was Adam Heuskes, Peter Burgoyne and Michael O'Loughlin?
JANE: Yeah.
TICKY FULLERTON: Jane says she was raped by Adam Heuskes and Peter Burgoyne and that at one point, Heuskes and Michael O'Loughlin were masturbating close to her face.
JANE: I came to, then - and they did that - then blacked out again.
MAN: The three of them did that?
JANE: Um, I think it was just Heuskes and O'Loughlin - it was dark, yep - while Peter was doing other things.
TICKY FULLERTON: About 2:30am, Jane says she woke up, half-naked, dishevelled and alone in the park. Four Corners has been told Jane says she was a virgin before that night.
Friends who missed Jane at the nightclub were shocked when they found her. They took her straight to the police. Two of the footballers, Adam Heuskes and Peter Burgoyne, were charged. Yet six weeks later, charges were dropped. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Rofe, stated there was "no reasonable prospect of conviction on any criminal charge". He has reiterated that to Four Corners.
What was your reaction when the case was dropped?
JANE'S COUSIN: Absolutely disgusted. Um...
TICKY FULLERTON: So the police thought they had a strong case?
JANE'S COUSIN: Absolutely. Very strong case, yes.
TICKY FULLERTON: Jane's two cousins refused to accept the decision. They went to see Paul Rofe in person.
JANE'S COUSIN: I strongly remember Paul Rofe saying that he believes 100% that she was raped.
TICKY FULLERTON: HE believed she was raped?
JANE'S COUSIN: He believed she was raped. The rape was premeditated for the other two boys to be following, um...but legally he couldn't take it any further because it boiled down to a case of what he said, she said, so there were no witnesses to the rape.
TICKY FULLERTON: So the footballers' words against your cousin's?
JANE'S COUSIN: Absolutely. So the footballers walk away... even after the police trying to fight to keep the case alive.
JANE'S COUSIN 2: To be told face-to-face by the DPP at the time that it was without doubt in his mind that it had happened was devastating.
TICKY FULLERTON: Jane's cousins have also expressed their concern about the DPP's close football connections. He was on the board of the Adelaide Crows at the time.
JANE'S COUSIN 1: I think his ties within the AFL were far stronger than what they should be for someone making a decision against AFL players. You've got a victim that had been hurt by three people, not one person, um...and yet it still wasn't allowed to be heard by a jury.
TICKY FULLERTON: Paul Rofe told Four Corners he considered his conversations with the victim and her family confidential, and that at the time he had determined he did not have a conflict of interest.
Peter Burgoyne is still playing for Port Adelaide. The club fined him a reported $5,000, but would not answer questions on this, referring Four Corners to the AFL.
ANDREW DEMETRIOU, AFL CHIEF EXECUTIVE: You'd have to direct those questions to the Port Adelaide Football club.
TICKY FULLERTON: They've directed us to you.
ANDREW DEMETRIOU: Yeah, but again you've mentioned a word there which is ALLEGED assault. Why Port Adelaide chose to fine Peter Burgoyne for being out at night and being in an inappropriate place is a matter between Port Adelaide and the player. Again, I'm not privy to why they fine them, other than I know there was a $5,000 fine.
TICKY FULLERTON: Could it have been because he was associating with Adam Heuskes?
ANDREW DEMETRIOU: I don't know. Again, I'm not privy to that information.
TICKY FULLERTON: Adam Heuskes was not with a club at the time, but now plays for a state club - North Adelaide.
The thing is, he's slipped through the net in some ways, because he wasn't actually with a club when he was charged in Adelaide. Shouldn't the AFL have looked into this?
ANDREW DEMETRIOU: No, I think if he's an individual - anyone who's an individual in society - there...we have got the law.
TICKY FULLERTON: And what of the third player, Michael O'Loughlin? He was not charged. His club, the Sydney Swans, says that he was never interviewed by police. This fact has been used by O'Loughlin to support his claim of innocence. Adelaide police will not comment publicly on the case. It's understood there was an intention to interview Michael O'Loughlin. One reason this did not happen was that he was interstate. A year later Heuskes, Burgoyne and O'Loughlin paid a reported $200,000 to Jane in a settlement. No liability was admitted by the footballers. O'Loughlin said he paid secretly to protect the integrity of his family. Jane was also bound to secrecy through a confidentiality agreement.
VANESSA SWAN, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SERVICES AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE: What we hear of is payments being made with clauses in them to try and silence the victims, and certainly that's out-and-out cover-up. That is out-and-out sweeping under the carpet.
TICKY FULLERTON: The football clubs were closely involved in the negotiations. Port Adelaide attended meetings with Peter Burgoyne and his lawyer. The Sydney Swans have used the confidentiality agreement to imply that Jane cleared Michael O'Loughlin of any part in the alleged assault. Six weeks ago, the club put out a carefully crafted press release that read "In a signed statement, the woman concerned said: 'I want to make it absolutely clear I have no claim against Michael O'Loughlin.'"
But Jane's lawyer has advised Four Corners that there is no separate signed statement. It is, in fact, part of the confidentiality agreement referred to in the Swans' press release. Four Corners believes that the statement releases O'Loughlin from legal claims, but does not confirm he had no role in the alleged assault.
ANDREW DEMETRIOU, AFL CHIEF EXECUTIVE: The Sydney Swans Football Club acted absolutely appropriately in coming forward to assure everyone and protect Michael O'Loughlin as an individual by saying that he wasn't involved in an alleged sexual assault. I see no issue with that, and whether they've taken a line out of the confidentiality agreement to protect Michael O'Loughlin, I think the Sydney Swans have acted appropriately.
TICKY FULLERTON: But as you say, the message seems to be that he wasn't involved in the alleged assault at all, and that is not what the woman has alleged.
ANDREW DEMETRIOU: Well, again, um...that matter was investigated.
TICKY FULLERTON: Jane's cousins are outraged at this message that O'Loughlin was not involved in the alleged assault.
JANE'S COUSIN: You know, at the end of the day, we know what's true and right and I can categorically say that...that that's not correct and that, um, just because he wasn't interviewed by the police at the time was by the fact that he was in Sydney, not because he wasn't...associated with the...with the incident.
TICKY FULLERTON: Adam Heuskes now denies that any incident of rape took place in London in 1999. Peter Burgoyne and Michael O'Loughlin deny any wrongdoing and declined to speak to Four Corners, citing the confidentiality agreement.
Faced with a spate of rape allegations against players past and present, the AFL's Andrew Demetriou has publicly called on all women to come forward with their stories.
JOHN ELLIOTT, FORMER CARLTON PRESIDENT: You know, Demetriou asking all girls for the last 20 years that have had any problems to write in is one of the most profoundly stupid things I have seen. What's he do with it when he gets it all? I mean, all he's doing is exposing the club to have to deal with the matter again. You don't know whether they're true or not.
TICKY FULLERTON: For football diehards like John Elliott, for 20 years Carlton president, the AFL's response opens a Pandora's box of problems.
JOHN ELLIOTT: You know, it may re-raise things that have been long forgotten. Therefore it's not going to help the football club, it won't help some of the...the players that may have been involved. And I just can't imagine why he did it. But I think it was, you know...maybe just the media scrutiny - that he wants to be holier than thou.
TICKY FULLERTON: The AFL's 'holier than thou' interest in assault cases is new. Until this year, it seems the AFL had its head in the sand. Back in 2001, Jane's lawyer, Greg Griffin, placed a prominent advert in Australian newspapers connecting the Brisbane Lions case in London with Jane's case in Adelaide, and called for the London victim to come forward.
There was an advert in the sports pages of several newspapers connecting a reported rape by a high-profile AFL player in London with an alleged sexual assault by AFL players in Adelaide. Surely the AFL would have picked up on that?
ANDREW DEMETRIOU, AFL CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Well, I mean, we act on what we have information about that is before us. We don't act on innuendo, rumour, advertisements. In that particular matter, the appropriate authorities to deal with that are the police. We respect fully the process, and the judicial processes before us...
TICKY FULLERTON: There was a phone number though. Shouldn't the AFL have called, saying, "What's going on?"
ANDREW DEMETRIOU: I think your assumption is that we didn't call.
GREG GRIFFIN, JANE'S LAWYER: I received no response to that.
TICKY FULLERTON: What about the AFL? They must have seen this advertisement in papers in Australia. Did you hear from them?
GREG GRIFFIN: I presume they would have seen it. It was placed in the 'Herald Sun' in Melbourne and the 'Advertiser' here, and I heard nothing from the AFL.
TICKY FULLERTON: Were you surprised about that?
GREG GRIFFIN: Nothing surprises me.
JANE'S COUSIN: It's not about what happened. We can't change that. But what we can do is identify that the system is the thing that let her down and that had it been dealt with appropriately three years ago, maybe other women wouldn't be in the situation that they are today.
TICKY FULLERTON: For all the talk of change in football, clubs seemed to have learnt little. This year, yet another AFL club is in damage control over allegations of sexual assault. St Kilda was forced to identify players as Stephen Milne and Leigh Montagna after Channel 7 wrongly named another player.
(TELEVISION STATEMENT PLAYS)
ST KILDA SPOKESMAN: We understand that one of the two women has previously met one and possibly both players. This woman and her friend contacted the players Sunday night and arranged to meet them. The women arrived in one of their own cars and met the players and drove the players to one of the players' homes. The following day, Monday, they made allegations, which are vehemently denied by both players.
MARG DARCY, CENTRE AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT, ROYAL WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: The St Kilda Football Club appeared to move into a very deliberate campaign of smearing the women involved. They did that by talking about the fact that the women had contacted the players - that they had somehow been complicit in what had happened.
