Downs rugby league player guilty of sexual assault, too drunk to understand consent
The profound ramifications of a regional Queensland rugby league player who sexually assaulted a woman have been revealed, as the young man was sentenced for his crimes.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Up-and-coming Darling Downs rugby league player Darryl Augustine Erepia, pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge after his lawyers made a deal with the Crown to drop “a much more serious charge”.
The regional Queensland football player entered his guilty plea before the Toowoomba District Court on Tuesday, March 18, one week before he was set to stand trial on the charges that were dismissed in exchange for his plea.
Crown prosecutor Abby Kong said the sexual assault occurred in Toowoomba following a gathering where the 23-year-old man and a young woman had been drinking.
The court heard the Darling Downs woman left the gathering to go to bed, however a few minutes later Erepia began knocking on the door of the room she was in.
He repeatedly asked to be let into the room while making statements about being romantically interested in the woman.
She told him to go away.
The court heard Erepia persisted for several minutes before the woman opened the door.
What happened next changed the woman’s life forever, she said in her victim impact statement that was read to the court.
The victim impact statement
The woman said Erepia’s actions that night derailed her career, health, ruined her relationship with her family, and fundamentally changed how she viewed the world and herself.
She said one of her favourite things in the world was spending time with her father and grandfather.
“I was surrounded by knowledge and love. I was safe with them,” she said.
“The most valuable thing for me was when they grabbed me for big bear cuddles. Those cuddles enveloped me with arms, I felt their strength and their love in the good times and the bad times.
“Those hugs used to make me feel whole and alive and most of all safe.
“I (now) shake and cry and back away even though they tell me it’s okay - it’s not.
“I can’t look them I the face. I feel ashamed and I feel that I have let them down.
“They taught me to be strong and to defend myself and stand up for myself but I feel weak, I feel violated internally.
“The pain I felt years ago I feel every morning.”
She said she used to be carefree, fun-loving, and had never been afraid of her appearance or body.
“Now I attempt to hide,” she said.
“There are days and weeks where I don’t sleep at all because of nightmares and images I see when I close my eyes. They re-play over and over and over, never a night without them.”
The sleepless nights she spends crying and wondering, “why me, what did I do for this to happen, how did I let this happen to me? I’m disgusting and weak”.
“My skin is not my skin. I want to cut it off and grow a new canvas, one that is free from all of this.
“I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to see my mum trying to calm my dad down because he just wants to wrap me up in his arms and take it all away and I can’t let him.
“Maybe death is better. The dirty disgusting skin will be gone and I will be able to have that new canvas.”
During her darkest times, she said it was her mother that kept her tethered to her life as she grapples with the past, present, and future.
“One moment.. years ago has changed my life forever,” she said.
“Everything that has driven me to be the person I wanted to be was taken from me.
“How do I get that back?
“How do I learn to live in this canvas that I can’t look at or let anyone touch?
“I go without food, without people, wrapped in my home alone in my corner.”
Erepia wrote an apology letter to the woman which was tendered to court by barrister Daniel Boddice, who was instructed by Nathan Bouchier of Bouchier Khan Lawyers.
The court heard it was up to the Crown as to whether or not a copy would be provided to the woman.
Drunken misinterpretation of consent
The court heard when Erepia assaulted the woman shortly after entering the room, she froze in fear and was unable to move or speak.
Prosecutor Kong said the sexual assault was serious, protracted, and noted Erepia had pulled the woman’s pants and underwear down to her ankles and pulled off her shirt to expose her chest during the assault.
Ms Kong and Erepia’s legal team tendered an agreed statement of facts to the court during the proceeding, which stated although no consent was given, Erepia was so drunk that he mistakenly thought it had been.
The court heard Erepia’s level of intoxication was evident as he fell asleep during the assault.
Judge Benedict Power KC questioned the Crown on the shared submission regarding consent and Erepia’s intoxication, but accepted the guilty plea and sentence proceeded on the basis that Erepia unreasonably believed it was consensual.
Ms Kong said mitigating features that should be taken into account when Erepia was sentenced included his young age, lack of criminal history, ‘early’ plea, and his rehabilitation on the basis he hadn’t committed further crimes.
Judge Power disagreed that the plea was early and noted Erepia breached his bail conditions a number of times, including an occasion where his blood alcohol content was 0.136 when his bail conditions were for it to be zero.
He said Erepia seemed to have an issue with drinking.
“Count two was a much more serious charge and negotiations obviously related to both charges but this one became sexual assault, but the resolution of it was a week before trial,” he said.
Ms Kong said the negotiations were late, not necessarily the guilty plea, thus Erepia should be credited.
Crown prosecutor Kong submitted a jail term between three and six months, however conceded a probation order was within range, which was submitted by Mr Boddice along with no conviction to be recorded.
Dedicated to church and fatherhood
Mr Boddice said Erepia was remorseful and his level of drunkenness was in no way an excuse, but rather the context of an “honest belief” he held about consent at the time.
“The fact that the sentence proceeds on that basis does distinguish it… from other offences of this nature with respect to the criminality,” he said.
“It’s not to suggest it’s not a serious course of conduct we don’t shy away from that.
“Nor does he in anyway shape or form seek to excuse.”
Since the sexual assault occurred, the court heard Erepia was an “active member of the community” who had completed a bachelor of business, worked as a labourer for a restumping business, and had a child with his partner.
Mr Boddice said Erepia used to binge drink on weekends however he had since dedicated himself to church and rarely drank, as he was now focused on being a family man.
“With respect to his rehabilitation, his antecedence, and his general character, his remorse… they are all extremely positive factors that… (are) evidence in my respectful decision that all weigh against the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment, even one that doesn’t require actual imprisonment.”
He said given a suspended jail term would automatically mean a conviction would be recorded, he urged Judge Power to sentence Erepia to a probation order.
“It might impact his… capacity to obtain employment or things of that nature,” he said.
“He is not an Australian citizen, I don’t press that the sentence your honour imposes will have a significant impact upon that in the sense of a mandatory cancellation of his visa but… (it) will be considered boarded force and may well have an impact… on his current immigration status.”
“He has taken every opportunity available to him to advance his life for the betterment of not only his family but the community at large.”
The punishment
Judge Power said the offending was “very very serious” and told Erepia the maximum penalty for sexual assault was 10 years behind bars.
“You laid her down and started kissing her… touched her breasts.
“You moved a hand between her legs and touched her inner thigh.
“I note it is not alleged you touched her genital region.
He said the timely plea to the new charge held great weight as it saved the woman from having to give evidence at trial which is a traumatic experience.
“I therefore reduce the sentence otherwise imposed had you pleaded not guilty then gone to trial,” he said.
“The agreed schedule of facts also states that this sentence proceeds on the basis that due to the level of your intoxication, you honestly but mistakenly believed the complainant to be consenting but that belief was not reasonable in the circumstances.
“This is a very difficult case because I regard the offending as extremely serious.
“The offending involved you persistently knocking on (her) door… in circumstances where she initially told you to go away.
“Your conduct towards her was reasonably protracted (and) it was towards someone who was completely passive… and offered you no encouragement.
Judge Power sentenced Erepia to a three-month jail term to be suspended for three months on the basis he unreasonably believed the woman’s passivity indicated consent due to his extreme level of intoxication.
“To deter other persons from committing… similar offences and to make it clear that the community, acting through the court denounces this sort of conduct… are matters that to me that indicate that a sentence of imprisonment should be imposed,” he said.
A conviction was automatically recorded.
In August 2023, a Toowoomba jury cleared the dual-code football player of a serious assault charge following a three-day trial.
The court heard Erepia engaged in a consensual fight at a house party that left a man in a coma with a serious brain injury after he was tackled on a concrete driveway.
The former Toowoomba Grammar School student was re-signed by the Warwick Cowboys Rugby League Club in 2025 and continues to play for the club.
Originally published as Downs rugby league player guilty of sexual assault, too drunk to understand consent
Mum of Qld toddler left on daycare bus in shock jail sentence
The mum of a toddler left on a childcare bus for six hours in 2022 has been jailed, leaving the young girl and three other children in the care of their terminally ill grandmother and family.
Drug trafficker’s relative allegedly tortured for code to $35k safe
A female relative of a convicted drug trafficker was allegedly kidnapped from her home by a masked group of men for the pincode to a safe.