Joshua Rini: Man charged with Tinder sex assaults denied bail

An inner west tradie charged with sexually assaulting women he met on Tinder allegedly used a fake name to access an Asian dating app in the months after he was bailed, a court heard.

A British national charged with using Tinder to meet three women before sexually assaulting them around Sydney allegedly went on to use an Asian dating app in the months after he was bailed, a court has heard.

Joshua Paul Rini’s lawyer told the Supreme Court on Thursday the former inner west tradie’s use of social media and dating apps was “not nefarious” as he sought to have him released on bail.

Rini, who recently became a father, has been charged with three counts of sexual intercourse without consent related to women he met on Tinder between 2017 and 2019.

Two women initially came forward to police alleging they had been raped by Rini in Glebe before a third contacted officers with similar allegations in Woollahra dating back to 2017.

Rini leaving court earlier this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Documents tendered to court allege one witness told police she “would just roll with it because he was good looking” and that she “felt in control”.

Police in court have been opposing Rini’s release after alleging earlier this year he used a fake name to access “Tantan”, a dating app used mostly in mainland China.

That saw him returned to prison for breaching his bail in May.

They argued in court his use of Tinder to meet the women for the alleged sex assaults showed there was a “pattern”.

Three women made allegations to police about Rini’s conduct on Tinder dates.

Detectives from the Inner West Police Area Command built their case on the basis that the women all voluntarily went to Rini’s home, began consensual sex before withdrawing their consent.

One of the alleged victims told Rini before they met up she would perform oral sex, which the court was told raised issues about consent in the case.

But police allege their withdrawal of consent was “unambiguous and clearly communicated”.

“It’s not the Crown case that Tinder was used in a nefarious way to lure them to the home where a sexual assault took place, it is incidental,” Rini’s lawyer Ivan Vizintin said.

“What the case is really about is what happened in the room with each of these complainants.”

His trial is due to start in March 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Mr Vizintin said Rini’s brother in Melbourne and his sister in Bondi were both willing to put up $10,000 each to secure his release on bail.

Rini sat quietly in Junee Correctional Centre where he was being beamed into the court from, only speaking to confirm he could hear the proceedings.

Rini has been in Junee after he was recently removed from a Sydney prison and in effect lost an opportunity to be vaccinated as coronavirus raged through the city’s jails.

He has a partner and an 11-month child waiting for him on the outside, Mr Vizintin said.

Justice Peter Hamill refused his application for bail and adjourned his case to be heard in the District Court where his trial is due to start in March 2022.

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