Rugby player Kurtley Beale suffered a legal defeat when he was found not guilty of having sex without consent and touching someone inappropriately.
He lost his effort to recover costs.
A NSW District Court jury cleared Beale, 35, in February of forcing an unnamed lady to have oral sex with him in a lavatory cubicle at the Bondi Beach Road Hotel in December 2022.
His legal team had claimed that the case should never have been brought because the woman’s allegation was refuted by CCTV evidence from that evening, and as a result, he should be given costs.
Judge Graham Turnbull declined to find in Beale’s favour, stating that the case still had “questions of substance” that needed to be resolved.
Judge Turnbull stated today, “It was not just a word on word case.”
He considered evidence of phone calls between Beale and the complainant that were “heavily relied” upon by the prosecution during the trial while rejecting Beale’s appeal.
Prior to this, the Crown claimed that remarks Beale made to the woman during a recorded phone call were sufficient grounds for bringing the prosecution.
Beale’s legal team contended that the calls, which included one “pretext” contact arranged by the police and complainant, showed the applicant’s “repeated and sustained” denial of criminal activity.
Judge Turnbull also took into account if the complainant was “deliberately dishonest” with the police and the court, as well as whether they substantially lacked credit, in their ruling today.
He noted that part of this was determining whether the complainant made up an account to “shore up” and provide “some degree” of stability to an otherwise shaky relationship with her fiancé.
The judge commented that there were “palpable deficiencies” in the CCTV evidence, citing the fact that the complainant’s claimed queue to the women’s lavatory was not depicted in the tape.
Judge Turnbull stated, “This contradicts the complainant’s reason for using the men’s restroom.”
