Jack de Belin trial: alleged victim told court she ‘still can’t sleep’

The alleged rape victim of Jack de Belin has defended her actions after a defence barrister questioned her claims, telling a court she was not behaving like a person just ‘violated’.

The alleged rape victim of Jack de Belin has hit out at the defence lawyer who questioned if she was fabricating her story, asking: “Why would I be here after two years?”

After being cross-examined for hours, the 21-year-old Wollongong woman was visually distressed, praying, taking deep breaths, and at one point breaking down in tears on the prerecorded footage.

“Judge, can I have a break,” the woman gasped, sipping a water bottle.

Jack de Belin arrives at the Downing Centre Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Jack de Belin (left) at the court. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

De Belin, 30, and his mate Callan Sinclair, 24, have repeatedly maintained oral, vaginal and anal sex with the woman after a Christmas pub crawl was consensual.

The court heard how she met the men on the dancefloor of Mr Crown on December 8, 2018, kissed Sinclair, and was taken in a tuktuk to de Belin’s cousin’s house.

As the interrogation of her behaviour continued on the third day of the trial, the girl became exasperated and her voice became stern.

“Why would I be here after two years? It has terrified me … two years later and I can’t sleep because of it, so I can’t remember, I’m sorry,” she told the court.

De Belin’s barrister David Campbell SC quizzed her on CCTV footage from after the alleged assault, telling the court she was “hysterically laughing” when the Dragons forward was stopped on the street by fans for a photo.

Callan Sinclair arrives at the Downing Centre Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Mr Campbell asked her: “I see you laughing and quite hysterically so … you were happy to be there with them … It would be unthinkable if you were laughing at all throughout this period?”

She became impatient, responding: “I went through a traumatic experience … I was trying to act as normal as possible until I could get away … yes, I played along, because I needed to feel safe with myself”.

“That doesn‘t look like a girl who can’t get away,” Mr Campbell pressed.

“That’s a girl protecting her safety,” she responded.

Mr Campbell said the woman lied when she told the court she texted a friend saying “I want to get high” because she “wanted to stop feeling”.

The message was actually sent earlier in the night, before the alleged assault.

She apologised: “I thought I sent the message after 2am. I didn‘t know I sent it earlier. They are quite close. I didn’t lie. That is what I thought last Friday …”

The woman also told the court she was walking in front of the men after the alleged assault, but she was actually just behind them.

“I walked in front to walk away quicker. I didn‘t really want to be near them,” she originally told the court.

When pressed by the defence on the details, she responded: No, I said I was pretty sure I was walking at the front, I didn‘t say I knew exactly where I was”.

Dancefloor footage from Mr Crown nightclub was played to the court, showing the woman making an oral sex ‘V’ symbol, with two fingers next to her mouth, and Sinclair touching her breasts.

She told police they just “pecked”.

When questioned, she said she was “doing her best to remember”.

“I was still in shock and I remembered the best I could at that time. It was traumatising and I did my best ... I‘m very highly strung and stressed,” she said.

The woman, who told the court she left her home town shortly after the alleged assault, has been ordered to appear in court for questioning on Monday, three years after the alleged assault, to address new evidence in the trial.