Sexual assault cases of two friends highlights NSW consent law issues

Two brave women stood up to bring a rapist to justice but the jury only believed one of them — Holly Leppard. Here, she shares her harrowing story for the first time.

When police told Holly Leppard her rapist had been found guilty she burst into tears — but when he was found not guilty of attacking another woman, she felt physically sick.

Her case is a sobering example of how NSW’s consent laws and juries come together to deliver perplexing decisions.

Ms Leppard’s attacker, 22-year-old martial arts instructor Remzi Bektasovski, had been on trial after pleading not guilty to sexually assaulting her in 2017.

Ms Leppard gave evidence at the trial about the harrowing and aggressive attack she experienced inside Bektasovski’s granny flat in the Illawarra region.

But he told the court it was Ms Leppard, then 17, who kissed him first and came onto him.

It was a case of her word against his.

After the jury had delivered its verdict, Detective Senior Constable Damien Bateman rang Ms Leppard and told her Bektasovski had been found not guilty of sexually assaulting another woman. She dropped her washing and slumped to the floor.

“My heart sank when I heard that, for her, and I worried what that meant for my case,” the 21-year-old said, speaking publicly for the first time.

“But then he said: ‘The jury found him guilty on your case’. I just cried.”

Holly Leppard was sexually assaulted and her attacker was recently convicted. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

This was a trial of the same man for sexual assaults that the Crown alleged were committed against two different victims, months apart and in similar circumstances.

Yet there were two completely different outcomes. The judge said it reflected the care the jury had taken with the case.

For the victims, it felt like a reflection of whether they had been believed or not.

At the centre of both cases was the issue of consent — a complex legal concept that juries in sexual assault trials struggle with in courtrooms every week.

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The focus fell on the victims to show they didn’t consent to the sexual activity and whether it was obvious enough that Bektasovski knew or should have known.

Ms Leppard and the second complainant both gave evidence they told Bektasovski: ‘No’ as he persisted with his sexual advances.

The jury accepted that Ms Leppard didn’t consent and that she was raped.

But, in the second complainant’s case, the same jury delivered a not-guilty verdict.

Reflecting on that finding, Judge Andrew Haesler said the jury accepted her evidence that “she may not have conveyed her absence of consent”.

Today, with the help of Ms Leppard, we launch a campaign asking for real change in the way the legal system deals with sex crimes.

“I feel like I am kind of untouchable now. People now know if you do something to me and you’re not allowed to, I have a big mouth and I will say something. I have been given that power,” Ms Leppard said.

Remzi Bektasovski was convicted of Ms Leppard’s rape. Picture: Facebook

In 2017, Ms Leppard, who has given The Saturday Telegraph permission to identify her, put a post on Facebook asking for help with computer software for a microphone.

Friends tagged Bektasovski, a name she recognised from her high school. They spoke on social media and she went to his house with her laptop.

It was the first time they had ever met in person.

Ms Leppard, then 17, had organised for her father to pick her up after the computer issue was resolved. Once inside Bektasovski’s granny flat, he forced himself on Ms Leppard.

She remembers breaking away for a moment to look at her phone, hoping to see a text message from her dad that he was outside.

Her phone screen was blank and Ms Leppard felt there was nowhere to run to.

“I stood there and just knew what was about to happen to me,” she said.

“I felt so defenceless.”

Bektasovski raped Ms Leppard as she cried.

When he was done, he gave her a towel and asked: “Can I take you out to dinner?”

Ms Leppard then went outside and found her dad waiting to take her home. He gave evidence at trial that his daughter was emotional and withdrawn but didn’t tell him what had happened.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Leppard she didn’t tell him initially because she didn’t want to hurt him.

When she finally told him she said she had “never seen more hurt in a grown man’s eyes”.

“(It) … really affected the way he saw himself as a father.”

Ms Leppard reported her assault to police weeks later but she stopped short of making a statement.

Police contacted her again more than a year later and said another woman had come forward alleging Bektasovski had sexually assaulted her too.

Would Ms Leppard consider making a formal statement about her own assault?

“I thought I would regret it if I don’t and I will go the rest of my life wondering what if I didn’t do anything,” she said.

“I didn’t realise how big it would get. At the beginning I thought I was helping this girl, then realising how big my case actually was, it turned into I was doing it for myself as well.”

After the different verdicts Ms Leppard told the other woman: “It’s still the same person, it doesn’t make what happened to you any less serious or important. You know what happened. The same person is still going away.”

Ms Leppard said the reaction to her allegations from the people around her were shocking.

“It has given me a big insight into how men perceive sexual assault. When friends found out and it slipped out sometimes, a lot of guys I knew would say he is my mate he wouldn’t do that. It was just disregarded,” she said.

“There was the usual ‘what did you expect going to a guy’s house’? What were you wearing?

“I have had people ask me if the situation was I went onto him and I rejected him so I am framing him as revenge for being rejected.

“It made me really mad at first. It made me wary of men in a way and their friends and who they associate with.”

Asked how the system could better support survivors, Ms Leppard pointed to a greater understanding of what reporting actually means.

“I think people need to be more educated on how authorities work,” she said.

“No one knows that you can report it without making a statement.

“It would be good if people do know that because, while the experience is solid and fresh in your mind, you can go in and make a report.

“I didn’t think another girl would come forward so it was sitting there for a year-and-a-half.

“Then she came forward and I popped up on the system.

“It was lucky I did that because I would have been just reading about it in the paper thinking: ‘Well, he did that to me too’.”

By the time Ms Leppard reached court, the second complainant had made a statement to police alleging Bektasovski had sex without consent.

The allegations of Bektasovski’s forceful behaviour was similar although the second complainant and Bektasovski had consensual sex in the past.

She claimed she sent him a message saying “dude you raped me” and he replied “it was OK, it was like last time”.

Bektasovski denied the allegations in court, including sending or receiving the texts.

He said in his evidence the sex was consensual and, eventually, the jury found him not guilty.

On March 30, Bektasovski was sentenced to a maximum five-and-a- half years jail, with a
non-parole period of three years and four months.

Tell us your stories. Contact Ava Benny-Morrison on [e-mail]