Kurt De Luis: Canterbury Cup player found not guilty
A jury has found Canterbury Cup footballer Kurt De Luis not guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager at a party following a farewell for former Parramatta Eel Bevan French.
Parramatta
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A jury has found aspiring NRL footballer Kurt De Luis not guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager at a party at his Oatlands home following a farewell for former Parramatta Eel Bevan French.
De Luis, 24, was found not guilty of sexual intercourse without consent at Parramatta District Court on Thursday. The Crown withdrew two charges of sexual touching without consent following a party in his double-storey home on July 20 last year.
The alleged incident occurred in the early hours of the Saturday after De Luis and his mates returned home after a wild night at Parramatta’s Albion Hotel, where they were celebrating a farewell for his best mate French before he left to play in the UK Super League.
Three women and two men, whom De Luis did not know, returned to the house he shared with Mr French and star Eel Reed Mahoney at the time, who was not at the hotel because he had training the next day.
Mr French and Mr Mahoney did not face any charges and there was no suggestion of wrongdoing by either of them.
De Luis told Parramatta District Court he had consensual sex with the 18-year-old complainant with the lights on in the downstairs bathroom and claimed she only pressed charges after being caught by her best friend, who he had consensual sex with moments earlier.
But the Crown had argued the woman mistook De Luis for Jacob Esau, who was with her in the bathroom moments earlier and she could not see because the bathroom was pitch black.
Mr Esau was not accused of any wrongdoing by the Crown.
During his closing address, Crown prosecutor John Sfinas told the jury De Luis, who played for the Blacktown Sea Eagles in the Canterbury Cup, forced the woman to have sex because of his arrogance and he was not satisfied with the sex he had upstairs.
“He entered that bathroom because he owned it,’’ Mr Sfinas said.
“He entered that bathroom because he was arrogant and entitled, whether it was cocaine …”
Toxicology tests showed the woman had taken cocaine, MDMA and marijuana.
The court heard how Mr Esau had left the bathroom but the woman thought he had returned and she realised it was not him because De Luis was being “rough” compared with Mr Esau’s “gentle” manner.
Mr Sfinas told the court the woman resisted De Luis’s advances for oral sex as she tried to pull up her underwear and jeans.
During his evidence, Mr Esau told the court he left the bathroom when De Luis entered because he felt strange in there with another man.
The Crown said the woman’s best friend flung open the door and broke down in tears because she realised it was not Mr Esau.
“Is that the conduct of someone who’s ashamed to see their friend because they’re caught red-handed having sex with someone?’’ Mr Sfinas said.
“When she was running out crying she wasn’t running out for shame … she’s crying when she’s running out because she’s distressed,’’.
The Crown also told the court Mr Esau was so angry when he asked the complainant if De Luis had raped her that Mr French had to restrain him.
But defence barrister Michael Smith blasted the Crown’s closing address and said Mr Esau’s witness account was “classic deflection’’ because he had digitally penetrated the woman in the bathroom before De Luis entered and did not want to get accused of sexual assault.
Mr Smith told the jury the woman was only in distress because her best friend caught her with De Luis and she did not expect anyone else to come into the bathroom.
“She got caught, she got sprung at the same time she’s coming down from an effect of cocaine, MDMA and no sleep,’’ he said.
“The combined come down effect of cocaine, MDMA makes negative emotions more acute.’’
The defence counsel said she failed to tell police and doctors she had consumed drugs that night.”
He also said the woman’s recollection of being in the bathroom alone before De Luis entered (whom she thought was Mr Esau) differed to Mr Esau and De Luis’s account of being in the same room briefly and brushing arms.
De Luis also said the woman smiled at him with the lights on and “smirked” while inviting him into the bathroom saying ‘You should have asked, Cheeky’.’’
Judge Sophia Beckett told the jury whether the lights were on or off in the critical was critical to the case.
The 11-person jury delivered its verdict after it started deliberating on Thursday.