How wild bucks party led three men to be accused of gang raping teenagers

The fallout of a bucks party weekend dominated by booze and sex extended beyond a nasty hangover when three men were charged with gang raping three teenagers.

A wild bucks party weekend dominated by booze and sex has left three men in a precarious position after they were charged with gang raping three teenagers at an Airbnb.

Andrew David, 30, and brothers Maurice Hawell, 30, and Marius Hawell, 22, went to Newcastle in February 2022 to celebrate Maurice’s upcoming wedding with a bucks party.

The trio, along with some friends, rented an Airbnb on Parry St for a weekend that would soon become the focus of a joint criminal trial.

Prosecutors claim the men gang raped two 18-year-old women on the Friday night before sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman on the following night.

Maurice Hawell denied gang raping three teenagers on his bucks party weekend. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Maurice and Mr David maintain that all sexual activity was consensual, while Marius claimed he did not participate in any of the sexual incidents during the bucks weekend.

The men faced a weeks-long trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault in company, attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault in company and aggravated sexual touching.

The trial centred on allegations made by the three teenagers that they were sexually assaulted during a bucks party weekend characterised by “sex and booze”.

Friday night

The bucks party attendees were at the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Friday night when they met two 18-year-olds who agreed to come back to the rented Airbnb.

The court heard Marius had just purchased a drink but he rushed out of the pub minutes after learning there were girls at the apartment.

Crown prosecutor Craig Evans questioned his “timing” of his “haste” to rush back to the apartment, but Marius’ lawyer Scott Corrish argued it was “no crime to run back to a party when there’s girls there”.

Back at the apartment, one of the 18-year-old girls said Maurice had tried to sexually touch her while she was lying in bed after consensual sex with another bucks party attendee.

“I don’t, like, want that,” she recalled telling the groom-to-be.

Andrew David also pleaded not guilty to the sexual assaults. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

He claimed he was only involved in consensual sex. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Not long afterwards, the teen and her friend said they went into a bedroom to retrieve their phones but they were pushed backwards onto beds.

One of the teens said she was forced to engage in penetrative sex with a man she couldn’t see while another man kneeled on her arms and thrust his penis into her mouth.

The other teen said she was pinned to the bed beside her friend and stripped naked as a man tried to put his penis in her mouth while she vaginally and anally raped.

Both 18-year-olds testified that they were unable to physically resist or identify their alleged assailants because the room was so dark.

Prosecutors allege Maurice, Mr David and Marius were three of the men in the room and they engaged in sex with the teens knowing they didn’t consent or recklessly as to their consent.

However, Maurice told the court the women had agreed to group sex involving him and Mr David, and they gave no indication that they weren’t consenting.

In a conversation with a friend not long after the alleged gang rapes, the court heard one of the alleged victims characterised the incident as “an orgy”.

Marius has also denied being involved in gang raping the three teenagers. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

He maintained he was not involved or even in the room. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Maurice’s lawyer Richard Pontello SC said the description was “hardly consistent” with the allegations of rape.

Text messages revealed the other teen thought the night had been “funny” until she was interviewed by police in March and realised “how dangerous and serious it is”.

Mr Evans reminded the jury there is no standard response to a sexual assault.

“What someone might do as a result of a sexual assault varies from person to person,” he said.

Saturday night

The following night, the court heard Maurice had approached a 19-year-old on the street and used a fake name as he persuaded her to come back to the rented Airbnb for pre-drinks.

Instead of giving her a drink, he ushered her into a bedroom.

Maurice told the court the teen had agreed to have sex with him before they entered the Airbnb, which Mr Evans slammed as “fanciful” and “not credible”.

He said the groom-to-be’s assertion was “totally inconsistent” with CCTV audio and texts from the woman which claimed she’d been “kidnapped” and called for “help”.

The defence lawyers refuted the texts were hyperbolic and didn’t reflect the reality of the situation.

The 19-year-old said Maurice pushed her onto the bed in the bedroom and they kissed before another man entered the room, causing her to feel “scared and anxious”.

She recalled Maurice asked her if she wanted to have a threesome with Mr David, to which she replied: “What? No.”

Maurice gave evidence during the trial. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Despite her refusal, the teen said Mr David knelt on her shoulders and pinned her to the bed before he forced his penis into her mouth while Maurice raped her.

She told the court she tried to keep her legs closed but he forced them open before a third man entered the room.

The prosecution alleged Marius entered the room and used his phone’s flashlight to illuminate the scene as the men took turns sexually assaulting the 19-year-old.

The court heard the woman was concerned the third man was filming the alleged gang rape.

Mr Pontello submitted she made the sexual assault complaint out of fear she had been filmed and the video would be published on the internet.

The court heard the 19-year-old put her pants on backwards in her haste to leave the apartment after the alleged gang rape, and she was “sobbing”.

Question of consent

The central question of the trial was whether the Hawell brothers and Mr David knew the teenagers were not consenting to group sex.

Mr Evans said the men knew the teens weren’t consenting because the dark rooms prevented them from identifying the men and they were pinned to the beds and unable to move.

He told the court the trio each had a state of mind to “seek out experiences or opportunities to engage in group sex … with or without consent”.

Mr David attempted to avoid being photographed during the trial. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Marius also made studious efforts to avoid identification. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

However, the trio’s lawyers argued they did not know the teens weren’t consenting because the women gave no indication they weren’t enjoying themselves.

They cast doubt on the credibility of the witnesses, who they said were contradicted by contemporaneous evidence such as CCTV, texts, photos and other witnesses.

However, Mr Evans argued the same evidence worked to bolster the accounts of the “honest, reliable and credible” alleged victims.

After weeks of evidence and arguments, the jury of eight men and four women retired on Thursday afternoon to consider their verdicts.

Mr David’s lawyer Sharyn Hall SC acknowledged the jurors might take a “dim view” of the focus on “sex and booze” at the bucks party, but reminded them that criminal trial “is not a moral judgement”.

Originally published as How wild bucks party led three men to be accused of gang raping teenagers