
-With AAP.
1. Disturbing allegations emerge in NRL rape case against Jack de Belin.
Warning: This article deals with an account of rape/sexual assault and may be triggering for survivors of abuse.
NSW State of Origin player Jack de Belin has pleaded not guilty to raping a woman in company with his friend.
The 27-year-old – whose partner is pregnant with their first child – was charged with aggravated sexual assault after the alleged attack on a 19-year-old woman in a Wollongong unit in the early hours of December 9.
Police allege he had sexual intercourse with the woman without her consent, in circumstances of aggravation, and in the company of his friend Callan Sinclair.
He is alleged to have raped the women repeatedly, grabbing her around the throat and leaving visible injuries.
De Belin is alleged to have at one point urged his friend Sinclair to “come have a go”, according to the Daily Telegraph.
After meeting in a nightclub, the men are alleged to have told the woman they needed to charge their phones before heading out again, so they went to the nearby apartment of de Belin’s cousin who was not home at the time.
The woman said she used the bathroom and a naked de Belin barged in to take a shower.
Police said the woman then left the bathroom, but after his shower, de Belin came out naked and forcibly undressed her. He then allegedly pinned the woman down and sexually assaulted her, with his hand around her throat.
Following the alleged assault, the trio booked an Uber back to the nightclub. The woman, with injuries to her legs, neck, lower abdomen and shoulder, fled to Wollongong Hospital where doctors performed a rape test.
De Belin entered his not guilty plea at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday before the matter was adjourned to April 17.
The St George Illawarra Dragons lock successfully had his bail varied so he doesn’t need to report to police every Monday and Friday.
Magistrate Roger Clisdell added an additional condition that De Belin does not enter any international point of departure aside from travelling on an airport train line.
De Belin has also surrendered his passport.
Police prosecutor Sean Thackray had opposed the bail variation due to the “nature and seriousness of the offence” and the custodial sentence it carries.
Mr Clisdell said there appeared to be “a reasonably strong case” against de Belin.
But the magistrate agreed to delete his reporting conditions because the 27-year-old was “a high-profile sportsperson” with professional rugby league obligations and was therefore unlikely to flee.
Top Comments
Just in relation to the language used in your reporting of the Jack De Belin sexual assault allegations, the hospital did not “perform a rape test”. Rape can not be “diagnosed” or tested for using a specific process like a blood test, this is one of the things that makes victims journeys so traumatic and harrowing, when they do feel able to speak out. The “test” language indicates the ability to “pass or fail”. Appropriate language would have been that a “sexual assault investigation kit” was conducted or that a medical assessment was completed to document any evidence supporting the disclosure and to provide any emergency treatment necessary.
Meathead football players again.Theres a bad culture there
NO MR MORRISON, MR SHORTEN IS NOT WEAK HE IS K I N D. Unlike you, you are ARROGANT AND VERY U N K I N D.
Unfortunately the shouty shock jocks on liberal radio 2GB are already hitting the panick buttons and wailing about all the people smugglers that will see this as a green light to start up again.Hopefully the Australian public is not gullible enough to swallow the lies,but Im not too sure
Oh I hope the public see through the propaganda, the liberals are hard bastards, they don’t care about anyone. People need to realise that 6 Independents voted with Labor and until now they have aligned with the Liberals so their conscience prevailed.
Well Morrison is saying this is a ‘crisis’ his favourite word. Remember the debt crisis, the debt has TRIPLED under the Liberals and all of a sudden it isn’t a ‘crisis’ anymore, never hear about it now.
i would be very surprised if sCOALmo didnt conjure up a boat to amazingly 'get past' the border farce patrols and make landfall in front of some perfectly placed cameras so he can have his 'see i told you' moment in his scare campaign