Longwei Xu found guilty of sex attack after lavish birthday party
A SYDNEY jury has found property developer Longwei “Tommy” Xu guilty of seven offences including sexually assaulting a model after a lavish birthday party thrown by a Chinese billionaire.
NSW
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A property developer has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a model he met at a dinner party hosted by Chinese billionaire Richard Liu at his Sydney penthouse.
Today a jury found Longwei “Tommy” Xu guilty of seven offences, including one count of sexual intercourse without consent, after a series of sexual assaults which took place over an hour in his 13th floor hotel room at Shangri-La on December 26, 2015.
Throughout a NSW District Court trial, the jury heard the 20-year-old victim was fed considerable amounts of alcohol at birthday party for Xu, which was hosted by Mr Liu — a Chinese internet entrepreneur who is the founder of e-commerce business JD.com.
The Daily Telegraph does not suggest in anyway that Mr Liu — who also goes by the name of Liu Qiangdong — had any involvement in the sexual assault.
“The effect of [Mr Liu’s] involvement as identified in the evidence is that he cooked dinner and hosted the birthday party for the accused at which the accused and complainant dined with others before the two attended the Shangri-La where the offences allegedly occurred,” said the trial judge Nicole Noman.
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Mr Liu’s lawyer Nick Hanna said despite numerous inaccurate reports in the media, there was never any suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Liu.
“Although Mr Liu would have preferred for his name not to have been associated with the proceedings, at no stage during the trial or appeal did the Judges, prosecution or media criticise Mr Liu’s conduct,” Mr Hanna said.
The jury heard that on the night of the sexual assault, Xu had picked the victim up in a white Range Rover and taken her to Mr Liu’s Quay West penthouse apartment at The Rocks.
“[The victim] will tell you when she gives evidence is before they entered the penthouse that the accused told [her] not to take any photos of the owner of the penthouse because he was from China and because he was very famous,” Crown prosecutor Sarah Talbert said.
She was later given numerous drinks by several men at the party — excluding Mr Liu — despite telling them she was allergic to alcohol.
The Crown successfully proved that Xu sexually assaulted the young model over an hour period in room 1319 at the Shangri-Law despite her repeatedly saying “I don’t want this”.
“The struggling continued on or off altogether for about an hour and during that time the accused pulled [the victim’s] fingers back and she complained that it was hurting her and yelled out for help,” Ms Talbert said during her opening address.
The court heard the victim escaped from Xu’s hotel room when he fell asleep and used the light on her phone to guide her out without rousing him.
She rang her boyfriend in tears and he took her to a police station to report the assault.
On Monday Xu’s bail was revoked and he was taken into custody.
He is expected to face a sentencing hearing on September 21.