By Ethan Rix for the ABC
File photo: Kurtley Beale playing for the Wallabies against England in the 2019 World Cup. Photo: AFP
Former Wallaby Kurtley Beale says after "a terrible year" he's glad "the truth has come out", after he was acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman at a Bondi pub.
The 35-year-old former rugby union player was standing trial in the New South Wales District Court after denying accusations he committed a number of unwanted sexual acts at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi on the night of 17 December, 2022.
After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury consisting of seven women and five men found Beale not guilty of all charges, including one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching.
Beale dropped his head into his hands as the jury acquitted him of all three charges.
Outside court the football star said he had always maintained his innocence.
"My family and I have suffered a terrible year, and I'm so glad that the truth has come out," he said.
The complainant, who cannot be identified, testified that Beale repeatedly groped her buttocks, forced her to perform oral sex in a men's toilet cubicle and grabbed her by the hips and spun her around.
The 12-day-long trial heard testimonies from the complainant and multiple witnesses - and were played recorded phone calls and CCTV footage from the night.
Defence: 'No force, only mutual agreement'
The trial heard on the night of 17 December, 2022, Beale, the woman and her fiancé were all at the Beach Road Hotel.
The 29-year-old complainant gave evidence that Beale had allegedly reached slightly under her clothing and touched her buttocks while they were at the main bar.
The second allegation was one of non-consensual fellatio in a toilet cubicle, where shortly after midnight the woman went into the men's toilets because she said she wanted to avoid queues in the women's bathroom.
The woman told the court that Beale followed her into a cubicle and briefly forced his penis into her mouth by grabbing the back of her head.
The trial heard that was followed by an additional allegation of sexual touching, where Beale allegedly grabbed the woman by her hips and spun her around.
The former Wallaby did not give evidence during the trial.
His barrister Margaret Cunneen SC described the alleged sexual touching in the main bar, which was captured on CCTV, as a "fleeting touch" and said it could not be considered criminal.
Cunneen also told the jury that her client did not touch the woman's head during oral sex in the cubicle and said there was "no force, only mutual agreement".
His legal team outright denied the third allegation, referencing evidence from a witness in the toilets at the time.
The court heard that Beale was drunk on the night but the jury was told by Judge Turnbull that the 35-year-old's intoxication would not be relevant to the consideration of consent.
The jury was told that the woman consumed at least 12 drinks and had taken two small lines of cocaine over the course of that day.
Beale tells woman he is 'sorry'
Jurors were played a recorded phone call of the woman confronting Beale with the allegations a month after the night at the pub.
"Don't you remember me saying, like, no," she says in the call.
Beale replies: "That's pretty f******, that's not on … I just initially thought it was that, but it was obviously not, so."
The woman says he "got your d*** out".
"Yeah I remember that," he says.
The woman continues: "And you grabbed my head and you put your d*** in my mouth".
Beale says "that's f****** not on" and that he is "embarrassed by it all".
But during cross examination, the woman admitted to writing five pages of notes, which she had near her during the call, with the words "convince him he is guilty and not innocent".
Defence argued that the 35-year-old's "contrite" tone during the call was due to his guilty conscience for committing an act of infidelity against his wife and not an admission for committing an offence.
CCTV and contradicting statements
The jury was played CCTV vision from the pub that night, which showed that the pair had spent four-and-a-half minutes inside the men's bathroom.
According to the woman, Beale called her over, grabbing her around the shoulders and saying to her: "I really want to f*** you," before he allegedly followed her into the toilets.
But Cunneen said the footage showed the complainant was instead the one that followed Beale into the toilets.
- This story was first published by the ABC.