Newcastle bucks weekend alleged gang rape: Woman tells of groom running out of bush

A woman has described a groom who ran out of a bush during his money weekend and convinced her to join his friends at an Airbnb apartment, where she says she was gang-raped.

Miss C is the third alleged victim to testify at Sydney’s Downing Center District Court against three members of a money party accused of raping the teenagers.

Maurice Hawell, his brother Marius Hawell and their friend Andrew David have pleaded not guilty to a series of charges, including aggravated sexual assault.

Mrs A, Mrs B and Mrs C all told the jury they had been victims of a series of sexual assaults, but they could not identify which men were responsible.

Ms A and Ms B were 18 when they say they were raped at the same time in a Newcastle apartment rented by nine men for a weekend getaway, while Ms C says she was abused there the following evening.

They had all been drinking before their alleged attacks at the nearby Cambridge Hotel.

Maurice Hawell, 30, and David, 28, say the sex they had was consensual and deny having committed any acts, while 22-year-old Marius Hawell insists he did not participate in any sexual activity at all.

The three men, all from Sydney, are being tried together for their involvement in a joint criminal enterprise.

The Hawells, David and six other friends booked Airbnb accommodation in Newcastle from Friday February 25 to Sunday February 27, 2022, ahead of Maurice Hawell’s wedding.

On Saturday evening, 19-year-old Miss C had left home at around 7.30pm and headed towards Cambridge, after drinking a shot of gin and soda and consuming two Vodka Cruisers.

She bought two cans of Smirnoff Double Black at the pub, met friends and walked out a few hours later to call another friend who was coming to the hotel.

“As I was walking down the street a little man ran out of a bush at the side and spoke to me,” Mrs C told the jury.

‘He told me to go for a drink with his friends. I said no. I told him I was talking to my friend who I was on the phone with. He told me to take her with me.

‘He asked my name and I said [part of Miss C’s name] and I asked him his name and he said Jonathon.” The Crown says Jonathon was Maurice Hawell.

Miss C said Jonathon had repeatedly asked her to join him and his friends at their apartment. “I said no and that I’m going to meet my boyfriend.”

As Jonathon continued to walk next to Miss C, she sent a message to her shared home’s group chat stating that she had been ‘kidnapped’.

Ms. C clarified that she did not literally mean that she had been kidnapped, but that the message was sent with the intention “just to let them know.”

“Jonathon’s bullying just made me feel unsafe,” she said.

When Miss C arrived at the goat group’s apartment, she sent another message to the friend she was supposed to meet. It said: ‘Help me now. Answer’.

‘[Jonathon] said to me that his friends were having a pre-dinner drink upstairs,” Miss C told the jury.

“I thought it would be safe because I heard loud music up there, so I assumed there were people up there too.”

Mrs. C said that when she entered the apartment with Jonathon, there was another man and a woman in the kitchen. The court previously heard that the woman had arranged to meet a member of the Bucks group via a dating app.

“I was confused because I was told there were people in the apartment having drinks,” Miss C said.

“Jonathon took my hand and led me to a bedroom.”

Mrs. C said the light was on and no one else was in the room.

“I asked Jonathon where the drinks were and Jonathon said, ‘We’ll get to that,’” Miss C said.

Miss C said Jonathon pushed her onto the bed with both hands, then undressed, turned off the light and sat on top of her. “I was quite worried and scared,” she said.

After Jonathon took off most of Miss C’s clothes and started kissing her, the bedroom door opened and the light was turned on and off, she told the jury.

Mrs. C looked to her right and saw a naked man lying next to the bed.

“I still felt scared and anxious and wasn’t sure why that little guy was there,” she said.

“Jonathon said, ‘Threesome?’ He said it in a loud voice. I said, ‘What? No.’

Ms C said Jonathon and the other man, who the Crown says was Andrew David, then sexually assaulted her simultaneously and eventually switched positions.

Ms C said she could not get out from under the men on top of her or protest verbally.

“I heard the bedroom door open and another man came in,” she said. The Crown says Marius Hawell was that third man.

Mrs C said she saw a light from a mobile phone that the third man was holding and asked Jonathon if he was filming them. Jonathon said he wasn’t.

After all three men left the bedroom, Miss C got dressed and walked to the kitchen where the woman she had seen earlier asked her if she was okay.

“I said I just wanted to leave,” Miss C said.

Ms. C said she left the building, put her underwear behind a box near the front door and tried unsuccessfully to call two friends.

The third person who called Mrs. C, her male roommate, answered and she told him that she had been raped.

When Miss C arrived home, she called triple zero and told the operator what had happened in the apartment, in a description that included a fourth man.

Police arrived and took Mrs C back to Cambridge and then to John Hunter Hospital. She later made a formal statement detailing the alleged rapes.

Under cross-examination by Richard Pontello SC for Maurice Hawell, Miss C agreed she had followed Jonathon to the apartment but denied she was ‘flattered’ by his interest when they met in the street.

Ms. C admitted that she told police that Jonathon had grabbed her wrist at the front door of the apartment and that she had tried to break away from him, but that was not true.

She insisted she didn’t expect anything sexual to happen when she arrived at the Airbnb or when she first entered the bedroom.

Maurice Hawell and David are charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one count of aggravated sexual touching of another person and attempted aggravated sexual assault in company.

Marius Hawell is charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one count of aggravated sexual touching of another person and attempted aggravated sexual assault in company.

The trial, before Judge Gina O’Rourke, continues.