Justin Kane Millington found guilty of sexual assault, sexual touching at Redhead and Fernleigh Track

A Central Coast man accused of raping one woman and sexually touching another, exactly one year apart after meeting them on Tinder, has learned his fate. Read what happened.

Millington was found guilty at Newcastle District Court. Picture: Amy Ziniak

A Central Coast man accused of raping one woman and sexually touching another woman, exactly one year apart, after he met them on the dating app Tinder, has been found guilty.

The jury returned their verdict, after almost 11 hours of deliberations, against 49-year-old Justin Kane Millington in Newcastle’s District Court on Tuesday, finding he was responsible for both incidents.

Millington, of Wyong, pleaded not guilty to ten charges involving two women.

In 2020, he sexually assaulted a woman in bushland at Fernleigh Track at Belmont and Nine Mile Beach on October 7.

He was charged with five counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one charge of sexual touching.

One of the victims was sexually assaulted on Fernleigh Track.

Millington sexually touched the second victim, putting his hands down the back of her pants and touching her breast while at her home in Redhead, at Lake Macquarie.

He was charged with a further four counts of sexual touching without consent.

During the trial, the jury heard from three women who had previously known Millington, and had described him as always “very respectful and polite”.

The court heard he met one Central Coast woman on Tinder in 2014 before they struck up a sexual relationship, despite knowing he was married with children.

She claimed Millington never tried to force himself on her and was “always very respectful of my boundaries” saying he “would never cross that line of consent”.

She told the jury they had remained friends after ceasing a relationship and when she heard of the allegations she was “shocked”.

One of the victims was also assaulted at Nine Mile Beach.

The Crown Prosecutor Kristy Mulley quizzed the woman about her relationship with him now, suggesting the pair had no contact in 2020 or 2021, when the offences occurred.

Another woman who met Millington through their love of cycling in early 2014, and he trained her for a charity riding event, told the court he was a very “dependable and reliable friend” and that he “acted with integrity and had solid Christian values”.

She said she had spent many hours in his company, and he had met her husband and even his family, despite the pair not having a physical relationship.

But Ms Mulley paid close attention to a motorbike Millington had tried to sell for another woman who was a friend, citing he would have used it on October 7, 2020, the day of some of the offences.

The court heard he had a passcode to the woman’s home and went to take pictures of the bike to sell it while she was in Sydney looking after her sick father.

But there were questions surrounding whether he was able to start it and ride it, with Ms Mulley accusing the woman of “just adding detail” because she was a good friend of the 49-year-old and was trying to protect him.

Millington will be sentenced on May 12.