Seven men involved in half-hour gang rape of two women in Hindley St carpark, court told
A court has heard appalling allegations about a gang rape of two women in a Hindley Street stairwell, including that one was attacked a second time when she bravely went to rescue her friend.
Police & Courts
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Seven men were involved in the gang rape of two women in a Hindley Street stairwell last weekend with one victim being attacked a second time when she tried to rescue her friend, a court has heard.
The Adelaide Magistrates Court has also heard the latest man arrested over the incident – the third – has a long criminal history including committing a violent robbery with others in a stairwell.
On Wednesday, an SA Police prosecutor alleged the third man, a 23-year-old from Kensington, was one of seven people involved in the incident at the Hotel Plaza carpark on Sunday.
She said officers were still working to find four more suspects and determine which of them raped the women for half an hour, and which stood and watched.
They had also, she said, arrested another man for contacting the alleged victims and trying to convince them to drop all charges.
“When one of the women was being raped by three men she could see that, a couple of stairs below, her friend was also being raped by a group of males,” she said.
“She managed to break free but decided to go back for her friend – she was then grabbed and raped again by the men who had already sexually assaulted her.
“The second victim says there were approximately seven men in the stairwell … she recognised this defendant (the 23-year-old).
“Three men have been arrested so far for rape, four suspects are outstanding, and an eighth man has been arrested for contacting the victims and offering them money to cease any accusations.”
The 23-year-old of Kensington has yet to plead to two counts of engaging in sexual intercourse without consent.
Another man, 20, of no fixed address, and a teenager, 17, have also been charged with the same offences.
On Wednesday, counsel for the 23-year-old asked he be released on home detention bail.
The police prosecutor opposed that application, saying the offending was too serious.
“When the girls walked past the carpark, some males known to them invited them to consume cannabis and alcohol,” she said.
“Then one woman was dragged into the stairwell by her hair by a number of men as she yelled ‘I don’t want to have sex, I don’t want to go with you’.
“(The gang rapes) lasted approximately 30 minutes … some of the men raped them, some watched.”
The prosecutor said the 23-year-old’s offending history included a prison term for an aggravated robbery.
That offence was committed in a stairwell in company with other offenders.
She asked he be refused bail and his identity be suppressed pending the outcome of further investigation.
Magistrate Nick Alexandrides ordered a home detention bail report and imposed an interim suppression order on the man’s identity.
He will rule on both bail and the suppression order next week.
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