Adelaide Uni academic tells alleged sex assault hearing a colleague apologised – then asked her to pay for vomit clean-up

A professor alleged to have sexually assaulted a drunk uni colleague apologised afterwards, a tribunal has heard – then asked her to pay for vomiting in his hotel room.

A top mathematician told a colleague – who has accused him of sexual assault – the incident would ruin his life, then asked her to pay for drunkenly vomiting on his hotel room couch, a tribunal has heard.

Dr Giang Thu Nguyen has told the SA Civil and Administrative Tribunal she did not want to destroy the reputation of University of Adelaide colleague Professor Joshua Ross, but nor did she want him to “do it again” to another woman.

On Friday, her third day of cross-examination by Prof Ross’s counsel, she said the mathematician asked her to return to his hotel room the morning after the November 2019 incident.

“He said he was sorry, that he was not proud of what he had done but, if anyone found out about it, his life would be ruined,” she said.

“The second thing he wanted to talk about was that I had vomited on his couch and he didn’t want to pay for it on his work credit card.

“He wanted me to pay for it on my personal credit card ... he wanted me to tell the hotel that the stain was spilled food.”

Professor Joshua Ross outside the tribunal. Picture: Matt Loxton

Dr Nguyen said Prof Ross then stood in front of the bathroom mirror and “practised what he was going to say” about the stain to hotel staff.

“(Later) I realised that, if he was practicing lying in front of the mirror, then he’s capable of lying, which means he’s capable of doing something that’s not good,” she said.

Dr Nguyen is seeking $1 million compensation, asserting she was sexually harassed by Prof Ross and that the university failed to properly investigate the incident.

She asserts she was too drunk to consent when she and Prof Ross had sex, and retains only “flashes of memory” of the incident.

Prof Ross, whom SA Police declined to charge, says Dr Nguyen was a “willing and consensual partner” while the university has stood by its investigation.

Dr Giang Thu Nguyen outside the tribunal. Picture: Dean Martin.

On Friday, Dr Nguyen said she had relived both the incident and the morning following it “over and over again in my head”.

She said shock, denial and a lack of legal understanding meant she did not realise, at first, she had been sexually assaulted.

“I associated rape with some level of force or when someone was completely unconscious,” she said.

“When I went to the police, I was worried about ruining Josh’s reputation if I made an allegation of rape ... I was worried about his career, I was worried about his wife and children.

“But I also didn’t want him to do it again.”

Asked, by Prof Ross’s counsel whether she was actually worried her colleagues would judge her for sleeping with a married man, she said that had “not occurred to me at all”.

“If I’m going to have consensual sex with someone, that’s my choice and it doesn’t matter what other people think,” she said.

“I was not sexually attracted to Josh, so why would I want to have sex with him?”

The hearing continues.