Enzo Belperio: Junior lawyer tells tribunal she was sexually assaulted inside dark room in SA Bar Chambers

A young lawyer has told a tribunal a terrifying account of telling barrister Enzo Belperio to stop as he allegedly pleaded to perform a sexual act on her.

A junior female lawyer told barrister Enzo Belperio to stop “four or five times” as he repeatedly assaulted her, and pleaded to perform a sex act upon her, in his darkened law chambers, a tribunal has heard.

On Tuesday, the lawyer told the Legal Practitioners Conduct Tribunal “friendly, professional, polite” after-work drinks with Mr Belperio and her colleagues had turned into an incident that left her “startled, frozen, overwhelmed” and “distraught”.

Mr Belperio’s behaviour, she said, escalated from discussing his music mix tapes and “strained” relationship with his wife to touching her hip and backside, and kissing her, prompting her to whisper “help” in a friend’s ear.

The barrister, she said, promised to take her to the suburban home she shared with her parents but instead went to prestigious Bar Chambers, turned off the lights and backed her onto a couch.

Barrister Enzo Belperio leaves the Sir Samuel Way courts building in Adelaide. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“He was on his knees rubbing outside my pants, I remember thinking I didn’t want him to do that, saying ‘no, stop’ but he kept trying to take off my pants,” she said.

“He kept saying ‘come on, please, it will feel good, will you let me go down on you?’ … because I didn’t want him to take off my pants I remember holding onto their clasp really tight.

“I said ‘no, you are not going to take off my pants’ … he said ‘please, you can sit on me’.

“He put his hand under my top and was groping my breast … I felt his cold hand on my skin … I was so startled, I froze.”

The Legal Profession Conduct Commissioner has alleged that Mr Belperio made “inappropriate and uninvited physical and sexual contact or advances” to the woman.

It further alleges that amounts to professional misconduct – Mr Belperio, who has not been charged with any criminal offence, insists the incident was consensual.

In her evidence on Tuesday, the lawyer said she learned, just prior to the incident, she had been promoted and would be working closely with Mr Belperio in the future.

Her supervisor, she said, was then invited to drinks via a text message that said to also bring her because “Enzo requested”.

“I remember being very excited, that it was a great opportunity … I told (my supervisor) and Enzo we would be the greatest team ever and high-fiving Enzo,” she said.

Mr Belperio, she said, discussed music with her and sent her Spotify links to his remixes of popular rap songs, held her hand “encouragingly” but then “became sad”.

“He started to talk with me about his strained relationship with his wife at the time … he was quite upset, and said he thought his wife was always upset with him,” she said.

The lawyer said she felt “awkward” but did not want to “cause a scene”, even after Mr Belperio asked her “if his height was good” for her.

As the evening progressed, she said, Mr Belperio continued to hold her hand while “rubbing my hip and backside over my clothes”.

After her supervisor left, she said, Mr Belperio “started kissing me” while asking her to accompany him to Bar Chambers.

“I was just so startled I didn’t know what was happening … I remember pushing him away and saying ‘no, you shouldn’t be doing that’,” she said.

The lawyer said she insisted on leaving and Mr Belperio offered to arrange an Uber – as they waited for it, she “bumped into” two of her friends.

“I was really glad to see them because I felt so anxious and panicked from what was happening,” she said.

“I remember giving (one friend) a big hug and whispering in his ear ‘I feel really uncomfortable, help’.

“I didn’t have the words to say what was going on and Enzo was still standing right behind me.”

Barrister Enzo Belperio is facing a Legal Practitioners Conduct Tribunal hearing. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

She said she got into the Uber, was surprised when Mr Belperio joined her, and shocked when it pulled up at Bar Chambers instead of her parents’ home.

“I just felt helpless,” she said.

“I had always been raised to respect my elders, not to disagree or complain for fear of punishment being attached to it, to be compliant especially in professional settings.

“I didn’t feel like I had any other choice (but to go inside) because I was in a foreign place with a man who I didn’t know and it was really dark (outside).

“I said ‘stop, we shouldn’t be doing this’ at least four or five times.”

The lawyer said that, after the assault, Mr Belperio ordered another Uber to take her home and, on the way, drop him off at a party where he was to meet his wife.

“He asked me ‘when will you let me go down on you?’ and I didn’t want to answer … I said ‘when you win the next case’ to get him to leave me alone,” she said.

She said the assault continued in the Uber until its female driver “turned around, cleared her throat” and told Mr Belperio they had arrived at the party.

That driver, she said, “consoled” her on the drive to her parents’ house.

“I remember being quite distraught, just sobbing and crying in the car, I told her (what had happened) in a word vomit,” she said.

“When I got home and looked in the bathroom mirror, I noticed I had hickeys on my neck from Enzo.”

The hearing continues.