North Coast man Brett David Anderson guilty of drug-fuelled sexual assault during party

A Goonellabah man who sexually assaulted a woman during a cocaine and alcohol-fuelled party hung his head and shed tears as his verdict was delivered.

Brett David Anderson, 34, of Goonellabah was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at a cocaine and alcohol fuelled party in Lismore District Court on Tuesday.

A North Coast man who sexually assaulted a woman during a drug and alcohol-fuelled party has had his conditional liberty snatched off him after being found guilty of multiple charges on Tuesday.

Brett David Anderson, 34, of Goonellabah, stood trial in Lismore District Court before Judge Craig Smith after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexually touch another person without consent.

He claimed to jurors earlier in the trial the case was based on “lies fabricated by a woman on meds’ and cocaine”.

The case remained up in the air on Friday when the 12 person jury found Anderson guilty of sucking the woman’s breast, licking her face, and kissing her but could not form a unanimous decision on the sexual intercourse without consent charge.

Goonellabah man Brett David Anderson.

Crown prosecutor Sam Rigby told the court on Tuesday the essential issue in the case is the complainant’s credibility and reliability and whether the jury should accept her evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

“How the complainant’s use of prescription medication and the use of illicit drugs impact on their (the jury’s) assessment of her credibility and reliability that night,” Mr Rigby said.

He said the other contentious part of the trial was the jury’s reliance on messages exchanged between the victim and Anderson.

Mr Rigby told the court the “same issues” equally apply to all three charges considering the jury had already delivered guilty verdicts to the two sexual touching charges.

Defence counsel Jacob Tate told the court earlier his client was “trying to appease” the victim when he replied: “I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you, I’m so sorry I never meant to hurt you. I’m so broken that I’ve hurt you. I can’t live with myself knowing I’ve put you through that.”

A Goonellabah man who was high on cocaine and drunk has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at a party.

However, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty for all charges at 11am on Tuesday after deliberations began around midday on Friday.

Mr Tate immediately objected to the Crown’s application for detention, asking the court to consider Anderson’s exceptional circumstances.

Mr Tate said Anderson’s partner is due to give birth to their second child in February, and he has a business he runs and owns he must make plans for due to an “inevitable sentence of full time imprisonment”.

“He has no criminal record and has never been in custody before,” Mr Tate said.

The court heard it would be a “very difficult time” for Anderson to be in custody over Christmas and during the birth of his child prior to sentencing.

Mr Tate would be seeking a psychological report and a sentencing assessment report which may not eventuate until the new year.

Goonellabah man Brett David Anderson, failed in his attempts to fight sexual assault allegations in Lismore District Court.

However the judge denied Anderson had any special or exceptional circumstances.

“The jury have effectively found Mr Anderson guilty of sexual intercourse through forced fellatio on the complainant and intentional sexual touching of sucking the right breast of the victim and what was described in evidence as “dry humping” the anus area of the victim,” Mr Smith said.

Judge Smith said Anderson would “realistically” be facing a term of imprisonment “measuring years”.

Anderson hugged his partner as both softly wept before he was taken into custody.

A sentencing date is expected to be set early next year.

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