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A sixth person was arrested in connection with an alleged gang rape in Adelaide last weekend, as a court hears that one of the defendants offered to pay an alleged victim $4,000 for her silence.
South Australia Police confirmed that a 20-year-old man was charged with rape on Thursday and will face Adelaide Magistrate Court on Friday. Five of the six have been charged with non-consensual sex.
A 17-year-old was charged with inducing a witness to withhold evidence.
Police allege that on Saturday December 3, two women were sexually assaulted between 11pm and 12:30am in the Hindley Street car park, opposite Adelaide’s main nightlife area.
The two women were allegedly walking by when they were allegedly caught up in an “alcohol and cannabis fueled incident.” Then, allegedly, seven men gang-raped them for half an hour.
One of the women managed to escape, but realizing her friend was still trapped, she ran to help and was gang-raped a second time, police allege.
In the days since, six people, including two youths, have been arrested over the incident.
The parking lot of the Plaza Hotel on Hindley St, where a gang rape allegedly occurred. Image: Shashi Baltutis
A 20-year-old man with no fixed address was arrested and charged with rape on Sunday and faced Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.
On Monday, a 17-year-old boy from Blair Athol was arrested and charged with rape, and later appeared in Adelaide Juvenile Court where he was denied bail.
A second 17-year-old, accused of offering to pay one of the victims to prevent him from going to the police, was arrested on Tuesday and also denied bail at Adelaide Juvenile Court.
On the same day, a 23-year-old Kensington man was charged with two counts of rape. The identities of the men have been suppressed by court orders, and state law determines that the youths cannot be identified either.
A 21-year-old Clearview man was arrested Wednesday. At Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday, he faced magistrate Justin Wickens, charged with two counts of having sex with a person without consent and one count of inducing a witness to conceal or give false testimony.
Prosecutors alleged that the second youth had contacted one of the victims and offered her $4,000 to “not testify or give false evidence.”
Police were then contacted by one of the women, who attended the 21-year-old Clearview man’s home, where he was arrested and found with the $4,000 in his possession.
“Police located money equivalent to the induced payment,” prosecutors said.
Wickens Magistrate told the 21-year-old’s lawyer that he had bigger issues to consider than money-related matters, and the prosecution also revealed that the 21-year-old was known to one of the alleged victims.
“I would have thought that their main problem is that one of the alleged victims in this matter knows this man and says that he is one of the people who is doing things to her and her friend in the stairwell,” Wickens said.
The 21-year-old’s lawyer, James Noblett, said those allegations of inducing a witness against his client were weak and no reason to deny him bail.
As your honor well knows, a coin always has two sides; that comes with explanations in due time, so I’ll keep my gunpowder dry,” Noblett said.
“My client denies any wrongdoing in this,” he said.
Wickens denied the man bail and kept him in custody until the next week, withholding his identity from the public.
Five men have been charged in the alleged incident, including a 23-year-old man (pictured) whose identity was withheld by the court.
Two women were allegedly gang-raped in this parking lot just off one of Adelaide’s busiest streets. Image: Shashi Baltutis
One of the women escaped but returned to save her friend before she was allegedly raped again, a court heard on Wednesday.