Newcastle bucks weekend alleged gang rape: Woman told police she had enjoyed herself at ‘orgy’

A woman who claims she was gang-raped by a group of men celebrating Dollar Weekend initially told police she had enjoyed herself and described the encounters as an “orgy.”

‘Miss B’ was 18 when she had sex with two members of the party at an Airbnb in the NSW Hunter Valley before allegedly being sexually assaulted.

The now 20-year-old woman told a jury on Monday that she was not telling the truth when she was first interviewed by detectives about a fortnight after the alleged gang rapes.

“At first I thought this was scary, but soon I started to like it,” she told police about the time she spent with the men in an apartment.

“I never intended to talk to the police after my experience with the boys because I gave my full consent.”

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

Three women, Ms A, Ms B and Ms C, have told police they were sexually assaulted, but they cannot identify which men are believed to be responsible.

Miss A and Miss B say they were raped at the same time in an apartment rented for a weekend, while Miss C says she was assaulted there the following night.

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 at the Downing Center District Court on charges of 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.

After meeting members of the group at the Cambridge Hotel in Hunter Street on Friday evening, Miss A and Miss B agreed to go with them to the nearby apartment in Parry Street.

Mrs A had consensual sex with one of the men, ‘Matt’, while Miss B had consensual sex in another bedroom with two others who the Crowns said were Maurice Hawell and Andrew David.

Miss B has told a jury that when she finished having sex with Maurice Hawell and David, a third man, the Crown believes was Marius Hawell, entered the room and touched her sexually.

Both women testified that they were subsequently sexually assaulted by at least two men in the room where Ms. A and Matt had previously engaged in consensual intercourse.

They told the jury that the lights were out and they couldn’t see who raped them.

At no point is Matt accused of committing any wrongdoing and has never been charged with any crime in connection with what happened in the apartment.

When Miss A and Miss B left the apartment, they returned to Cambridge with Matt, where they met up with some of their friends who had been at the pub earlier in the evening.

“We said we were having an orgy,” Miss B said Monday of what she told her friends about what happened in the apartment.

‘I said that and [Miss A] said that. They just started laughing and thought it was funny.”

When asked why she had described what would now include rape as an ‘orgy’, Miss B mentally said ‘that was just the best way to describe what had happened’.

Ms B said police contacted her several weeks after that evening and made a formal statement on March 9.

“I said I agreed,” she told the jury.

Ms. B said she didn’t discuss the events at the Airbnb with anyone else until she had a conversation with her grandmother almost a year later.

“I told her something had happened to me last February and I told her it had taken a toll on me,” she said.

“I felt like I needed to talk to someone about what happened and that she was the only person I felt safe with.”

Miss B’s grandmother said Miss B told her that she and Miss A had each gone into a separate room with a man – ‘she was quite upset and embarrassed’.

The grandmother said Miss B told her that she had ended up in the same room as Miss A, the room had gone dark and Miss A started calling out for Matt.

“I said, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ said the grandmother. ‘She said, “Nan, I just want to forget about it.”

The day after that conversation, Miss B was with her father when her grandmother called and told him that “something had happened” to his daughter.

“Knowing my daughter, I could tell right away that she had gone bankrupt and then she started crying,” Ms. B’s father said.

The father said Miss B told him she had had sex with a man when “two or three more boys came into the room.”

‘I said against [Miss B], “Did you give permission?” and she said, ‘Only to the first man, not to anyone else who entered the room.’

Miss B was upset that her grandmother had betrayed her trust, but later that day she spoke to her father’s partner.

“I told her I had had sex with five men,” said Miss B. “I said that because in my head I thought there were two men on me and I saw three [Miss A] I assumed it was five men.’

Mrs B’s father’s partner gave evidence about that conversation.

She said Miss B told her she had had consensual sex with a man, after which another man entered the room with whom she had no intention of having intercourse.

Mrs. B told her that the second man then left, Mrs. A came in and three to five men entered the room.

Mrs B’s father and his partner stated that the conversation took place on January 30 last year.

Ms B was later contacted again by police and made a second formal statement on March 28 last year.

She told the jury she never discussed with Miss A what might have happened to either of them in the apartment.

Ms B said she originally told police her alleged rapes were consensual sex because she had not said or done anything to suggest she did not consent.

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.

Miss C has yet to testify about what allegedly happened to her.

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