Newcastle Airbnb bucks night rape trial: Major update for trio waiting verdict after they were found guilty
Three men must wait to hear their fate after being found guilty of gang-raping three teenagers during a stag party weekend.
Andrew David, 30, and his brothers Maurice Hawell, 30, and Marius Hawell, 22, faced trial in the New South Wales District Court this year after pleading not guilty to sexual abuse.
The trio were accused of raping three teenagers in an Airbnb in February 2022 while they were staying in Newcastle to celebrate a stag party for groom-to-be Maurice.
Prosecutors say the men sexually assaulted two 18-year-old women on Friday night and attacked a 19-year-old woman the following evening.
Maurice and Andrew maintained that all sexual acts were consensual, while Marius claimed he was not involved in the sexual incidents during the stag party weekend.
The jury, consisting of eight men and four women, deliberated for eight and a half hours before unanimously returning guilty verdicts on nine of the 11 charges on Monday.
However, they could not reach a unanimous verdict on two points and were ordered to continue discussions.
On Tuesday afternoon, jurors found Maurice guilty of sexually touching an 18-year-old girl without her consent the night before.
Maurice Hawell has been found guilty of gang raping three teenagers during his stag weekend
The teenager told the court that Maurice had attempted to sexually touch her upper thigh, near her groin, while she lay on the bed after consensual sex with another hen party attendee.
“I don’t want that at all,” she remembers telling the groom-to-be.
The jury also told the court they could not reach a unanimous decision on whether the Hawell brothers and Andrew anally raped the same 18-year-old woman that night.
The teenager said she was held down on a bed in a dark bedroom and stripped naked by a “swarm” of men.
She described trying to knock one man’s penis away as he tried to put it in her mouth, while another man tried to place her free hand on his penis.
The 18-year-old girl said she was then raped vaginally and anally, but she could not identify her attackers because the room was so dark.
The three men deny the allegations.
Although the teen could not identify her attackers, the jury concluded Monday that brothers Hawell and Andrew sexually abused the woman in the dark room.
However, the jurors could not agree on whether the three men were guilty of anal rape.
Judge Gina O’Rourke instructed jurors to try to reach a majority decision on the charge of aggravated sexual assault in the company of the trio.
After more than an hour of deliberation, the jury decided they could not reach an agreement.
The jury also returned guilty verdicts for Marius Hawell (pictured), Maurice’s younger brother
Judge O’Rourke formally released the jury from their obligation to reach a verdict on the final charges against the three men.
The three rapists sat in the dock, dressed in green tracksuits issued to them from prison, and with expressionless looks.
On Monday, the jury found the trio guilty of gang-raping three teenagers on two consecutive nights of a bachelor party weekend.
The 18-year-old women told the court they were sexually assaulted on Friday night when they tried to retrieve their phones to leave the Airbnb apartment.
They said they were both thrown back into bed and pinned down while the men raped them in a dark room, preventing them from moving and identifying their attackers.
The jury also found that Maurice, Andrew and Marius raped a third teenager the following night after Maurice lured her to the Airbnb rental under a false name.
The court heard he persuaded the woman to come to his apartment for a drink but instead led her into a bedroom.
Andrew David was also found guilty of sexually abusing three women
Maurice pushed her onto a bed and they kissed before he asked her if she wanted to have a threesome with him and Andrew.
“What? No,” she told him.
Despite her refusal, the teenager stated that Mr David pinned her to the bed by kneeling on her shoulders, after which he forced his penis into her mouth while Maurice raped her.
The jury accepted that Marius entered the room and used his phone’s flashlight as the men took turns sexually assaulting the 19-year-old.
The court heard that in her haste to leave the apartment after the gang rape, the girl put her trousers on backwards and was “crying”.