Footy star Kurtley Beale loses a VERY costly legal battle after being cleared of rape
- Wallaby cleared of alleged assault in February ruling
- 35-year-old back in court in Sydney on Friday
Wallabies star Kurtley Beale has lost his case to have his huge legal bills paid by the state after he was acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman in a Sydney bar.
The 35-year-old appeared in court in New South Wales earlier this year after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and two charges of sexual contact.
After a two-week trial, jurors took less than an hour to determine that the rugby star had not groped a woman’s buttocks at the Beach Road bar in Bondi on December 17, 2022.
The woman’s claims that Mr Beale then forced her to perform oral sex on her in the men’s toilet were also rejected by the court.
The Wallabies star has consistently denied the allegations and told reporters he was relieved that “the truth has come out” after he was cleared of the charges.
“I have always maintained my innocence,” he said.
“My family and I have had a terrible year.”
Judge Graham Turnbull ruled on Friday that Mr Beale’s legal fees would not be paid by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Beale (pictured with his wife Maddi at his sexual abuse trial in February) will have to pay a legal bill rumored to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars after Friday’s verdict
The 35-year-old was recently mentioned as a contender for the Wallabies (pictured), but he now needs surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon he sustained during a club rugby match.
The rugby star’s legal fees are reportedly running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Judge Turnbull ruled that it was reasonable for the prosecutor to prosecute Mr Beale on the charges.
“I conclude that there were substantive issues that needed to be resolved and that this was not just a literal matter,” he said.
At a costs hearing in April, Mr Beale’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC argued that the Crown’s case against her client was “extremely weak” and should never have been pursued.
She claimed that CCTV footage from the night of the alleged attack was “very different” to the woman’s version of events and that parts of her story were “blatantly false”.
Beale said he and his family had had a ‘horrible year’ when he was acquitted – and news of his huge legal bill has only made his prospects for 2024 worse
However, prosecutor Philip Hogan said Mr Beale’s statements in recorded telephone conversations indicated there was a reasonable basis to prosecute him.
In the phone call, Mr Beale told the woman he had “misjudged the whole scenario” and said: “This is my mistake, I have to live with it.”
Judge Turnbull said the recorded phone calls were “a very strong case to charge the rugby star”.
In January 2023, Beale was sacked by Rugby Australia, but returned to the sport in March following his acquittal.
He was recently recalled to the Wallabies, but an injury may have prevented his return to the national team.