Simon Vunilagi: top Canberra and regional NSW rugby union star led Mooseheads gang rape
Top Canberra and regional NSW rugby union star Simon Vunilagi has been found guilty of being the ringleader of a horrific gang rape.
Canberra Star
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Three mates, including a top rugby union player and one of the stalwart’s of Canberra’s Fijian community, have been found guilty of gang raping a woman after a drinking session at notorious nightclub Mooseheads.
The horrifying crime has been compared in court to those led by notorious western Sydney gang rapist Bilal Skaf.
Ringleader Simon Vunilagi, married family man Josefa Masivesi, and Isimeli Vatanitawake were each found guilty on Friday afternoon of raping a young woman who Vunilagi had met while drinking at Mooseheads.
Alleged co-offender Ratu Macanawai, 25, was found not guilty of two counts of rape in company and was released from the cells at the ACT Supreme Court after nearly a year behind bars.
The prosecution case, largely accepted by Chief Justice Helen Murrell, was that the imposing Vunilagi was feared and respected by his Fijian co-offenders and led the gang rape of the woman at Masivesi’s flat in the northern Canberra suburb of Downer.
Vunlilagi was found guilty of seven counts of rape and one count of indecency, while Vatanitawake was found guilty of one count of rape.
Masivesi was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of indecency.
Chief Justice Murrell sat on the case without a jury.
A large group of supporters packed the public gallery of the court as the three men were found guilty and Vunilagi’s bail was revoked.
At a three week trial last month, the woman said she was terrified she would be killed if she did not allow the men to attack her.
She said she had told a cab driver she was scared of the men as she was being taken to the house in the early hours of November 3 last year.
Vunilagi’s case was that the woman was “out to pick up” that night, and that she voluntarily performed oral sex on him before having sex with the other men.
Masivesi’s case was that he was a devoted Christian and a family man who would never cheat on his wife, and that the offences he was accused of did not happened.
He appeared visibly agitated when Chief Justice Murrell delivered her verdicts.
Sentencing proceedings are due to begin in November.