Rugby star Kurtley Beale charged over Bondi pub toilet sex assault

Kurtley Beale spent last night behind bars after being refused bail to appear in court on Saturday on sex assault charges. Rugby Australia has suspended the star player from all forms of the game while legal proceedings are in play.

Kurtley Beale during the Wallabies Indigenous Jersey Launch at the Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre in July 2022. Picture: Getty Images

Rugby Australia has suspended Kurtley Beale from all forms of the game following the star player being charged on Friday night over the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Bondi last month.

The Waratahs fullback and new dad was stopped by police on Rainbow St, Kingsford, just before 2.30pm on Friday and taken to Waverley Police Station after a month-long investigation.

He was interviewed by detectives, and charged over the alleged sexual assault of a 28-year-old woman at Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel.

Beale was refused bail on Friday evening, and is set to appear in Parramatta court on Saturday.

Late on Friday, Rugby Australia and the NSW Waratahs issued a joint statement announcing that Beale had been suspended from all forms of rugby with immediate effect pending the conclusion of legal proceedings.

Beale during the 2019 Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies in Auckland, New Zealand. Picture: AAP

The Beach Road Hotel in Bondi.

The woman told police in the Tweed/Byron Police District she was followed into the pub bathroom on Saturday, December 17, by Beale, who then allegedly forced her to perform a sex act.

The reports were passed on to detectives from the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command under Taskforce Titheradge.

Beale was charged with two counts of sexually touch another person without consent, incite another to sexually touch them without consent, and sexual intercourse without consent.

Police sources say CCTV footage from the hotel ­supported the version of events the woman gave to detectives.

It is believed Beale knew the alleged victim from years earlier and had said hello earlier that night but the two were socialising in separate groups.

Police are urging anyone with information about the alleged incident to come forward.

A corrective services caged truck leaving Waverley Police station on Friday evening, after Kurtley Beale was questioned and interviewed at the station. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Kurtley Beale with his wife Maddi.

Beale with son Kurtley James Windon Beale.

Rugby Australia said it would conduct its own investigations into the matter.

“(The suspension from rugby) follows Mr Beale’s arrest and subsequent charge with serious criminal offences, and is in line with Rugby Australia’s Professional Player Code of Conduct,” the joint statement from Rugby Australia said

“The Rugby Union Players Association (RUPA) has been informed of this development.

“As this remains a legal matter, there will be no further comment until the conclusion of these proceedings.”

Beale last year returned to Australia after a stint at Paris rugby club Racing 92, and welcomed the birth of his first son with wife Maddi.

He returned to the Waratahs as fullback after captaining the side in 2020, and was one of 44 players selected for a four-day Wallabies training squad on the Gold Coast.

One of the most high profile rugby players of recent years, Beale represented Australia at three World Cups — in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

Contracted by the Waratahs as a student at Sydney’s St Joseph’s College, Beale made his Super Rugby debut as an 18-year-old in 2007, the same year he pleaded guilty to drink-driving in Western Sydney.

In 2011 he took out the John Eales medal as Australia’s medal of the year.

The Wallabies star has a history of alcohol issues, and previously took a leave of absence from rugby to enter a private health facility and receive counselling for “ongoing issues”.

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