This was published 3 years ago
'I was dead inside': woman claims Jack de Belin choked her during alleged rape
A woman who claims NRL star Jack de Belin and another football player took turns raping her said the St George Illawarra player was choking her so hard during the ordeal she thought she would pass out.
The woman, then 19, told a jury Mr de Belin and Shellharbour Sharks player Callan Sinclair were cheering each other on while she felt "dead inside" as they held her body up to sexually assault her at the same time in a Wollongong apartment in the early hours of December 8, 2018.
St George Illawarra player Jack de Belin has pleaded not guilty to raping a woman in a Wollongong apartment.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
"Jack de Belin was going, 'yeah, Cal, keep going' ... I couldn't stop them so my body shut down and it's a situation you don't ever want to be in. So you start crying because it's probably the only coping mechanism you can do," the woman, who cannot be legally identified, told the NSW District Court in Wollongong on Tuesday.
"They were holding my body up, I was dead inside, I was numb, I was crying, and that's all I was doing."
The woman fought back tears at times during her evidence as she described becoming resigned to the ongoing sexual assault after she'd earlier tried to resist and told the men to stop.
In his opening address to the jury, Crown Prosecutor David Scully said that after the alleged ordeal Mr de Belin asked if she could ''keep her mouth shut'' before telling her to order an Uber for the trio so they could go to a bar.
"While in the Uber, Mr de Belin gave the complainant $50. He said 'here is $50 for the Uber and to keep your mouth shut'," Mr Scully said.
The woman said Mr de Belin was "the one in charge" and that she was trying to act tough following the incident but was scared for her safety.
Mr de Belin, 29, and Mr Sinclair, 23, have both pleaded not guilty to five counts of aggravated sexual assault each, with their barristers telling the jury their clients maintained the episode was consensual group sex.
Mr de Belin's lawyer David Campbell, SC, asked the jury to consider later in the trial whether Mr de Belin "was the sort of person who would go and do these horrible things".
Mr Sinclair's barrister Craig Smith, SC, said there was evidence both before and after the incident that was consistent with his client's assertion that the activity was consensual.
Shellharbour player Callan Sinclair outside the NSW District Court in Wollongong.Credit: Sam Mooy
"He's 23, comes from a loving family: a mum and a dad, and three brothers. He's never been in trouble before. He's a person of good character."
The court heard the woman was partying with the pair and others at a Wollongong nightclub, Mr Crown, late on December 8, where she had briefly kissed Mr Sinclair, before all three left early the following morning with two other men with the intention of going to another bar.
The woman said that when the other two men left she repeatedly told Mr de Belin and Mr Sinclair she wanted to go home but was persuaded to get in a bike-taxi with them to the bar.
She said she started feeling uneasy when Mr de Belin paid the driver $50 to take an unexpected route and took her phone out to start filming on Instagram. Mr de Belin told her "in an aggressive tone" to delete the footage or he would throw the phone away.
The jury heard that after leaving the vehicle Mr de Belin told the woman they were going to his place to charge their phones, and while wanting to stay outside the apartment, she eventually went inside to use the toilet.
The woman said that while she was using the toilet, Mr de Belin walked into the bathroom naked and got into the shower. She then went into the bedroom where Mr Sinclair was. Mr de Belin entered soon after, undoing her top and pushing her onto the bed, telling her to "show me your rack".
Mr de Belin allegedly forced himself onto her and gripped her neck before telling Mr Sinclair to "come have a go". The woman said that after Mr Sinclair had finished Mr de Belin continued having sex with her.
"When he was choking me I felt like I was going to pass out, that’s how hard he was choking me," she said, adding that after the incident Mr de Belin asked her "why are you being so emotional?" as she cried in front of the pair.
The woman said that she fled the pair following the incident while they were all waiting in a line to enter another bar.
Mr Scully told the jury the woman sent messages and spoke to various friends and colleagues about what happened during the early hours of the morning and later that day before her manager encouraged her to go to police.
He said Mr Sinclair later found out the woman was making allegations, and messaged her through a friend's Facebook account to say that "everything was consensual".
"It was a good night," he allegedly said.