Talal Eleter: Barber denies allegation he raped woman in office

A court has heard a popular Sydney barber allegedly raped a woman during a mid-lockdown meet up after he’d met her on Facebook. He denies the charges.

A successful barber from Punchbowl is accused of raping a woman after they met up at an office to get around Covid lockdown rules.

Talal Eleter was denied bail at Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday on five charges of sexual intercourse without consent.

The court heard Eleter, 27, and the woman met over Facebook before interacting on Snapchat.

In the days before the alleged incident, they are said to have engaged in long phone-sex calls, the court heard.

On a Saturday in September, Eleter agreed to meet the woman at her office so they could get around the Covid LGA rules, when the incident is said to have occurred, Eleter’s lawyer Theo Voros told the court.

Talal Eleter.

As soon as Eleter left the office, the woman attended the police station and made her complaint, the court heard.

His arrest the following day gave his father a heart attack, the court heard.

Eleter believed their sex was consensual and will fight the charges, the court heard.

However, the woman told police in a recorded interview that consent was “clearly not given multiple times” throughout their interaction, Prosecutor Sergeant Schmidt said.

In his interview with police, the court heard Eleter said she looked “wrong” after their interaction.

“She looked very, very wrong. And I look at her and I go ‘do you want me to go? Do you want me to leave you alone?’ … She was very uncomfortable for some reason after it happened,” Eleter said.

The woman did ask Eleter to leave, the court heard, and he replied “no worries”.

The Magistrate at Bankstown Local Court argued this statement appeared to support her version of events.

Eleter’s lawyer Theo Voros claimed the pair had a “demonstrable sexual relationship between them on what seems to be self-confessed phone sex” and said Eleter had sent the woman a picture of his penis in the days preceding their meeting.

Mr Voros said the woman was not wearing any underwear during their meet-up, which Eleter claimed was because she invited him there, although she denied that was the reason.

He said there was an “expectation” about what was to happen that day.

Sergeant Schmidt told the court that the immediacy of her complaint did not align with someone who had just had consensual sex and strengthened the prosecution case.

The Magistrate said that despite their flirtatious communications, and the fact they had some kind of relationship, still meant they could “engage in unlawful sex” at a later stage.

The court heard Eleter was on bail for unrelated affray charges, which he will defend, at the time of his arrest.

Eleter was denied bail and will return to court next month.