De Belin, Sinclair trial: Detective ‘lied’ about phone information
NSW State of Origin star Jack de Belin told another NRL player that his image had been damaged after accusations of rape were made against him.
Police & Courts
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Jack de Belin told a fellow NRL star his image was “tarnished” after being accused of rape, a court heard.
Ten call intercepts from de Belin and Callan Sinclair’s phones in the days following the ordeal on 9 December 2018 were played to the District Court on Wednesday afternoon.
Both men say a threesome after a pub crawl was consensual.
In one call, de Belin told fellow State of Origin player Angus Chrichton his image was “tarnished”.
“My image is tarnished. My missus is pregnant. It’s so f*****,” de Belin said.
De Belin told Chrichton they had sex with “some little chick that was hanging around”.
“Me and my mate (Sinclair) went back to my cousin’s house. Had a standard bun (slang for sex),” he said.
De Belin told his cousin Jake Lewis about the moment he confessed to cheating on his partner Alyce Taylor.
“She came home from work and I had to tell her I cheated on her. She was so f****** angry at the start,” de Belin said.
He said she then became “sad and real emotional”.
“That was the saddest part. Watching her heart break,” de Belin said.
“That’s so f*****,” Mr Lewis replied.
In another call a friend warned Sinclair, “always think the coppers are going to be listening in on your phone calls”.
Earlier, the lead detective investigating de Belin’s rape claims admits he accessed confidential legal conversations on the St George Illawarra star’s phone and lied to the court about it.
De Belin’s barrister David Campbell SC accused Detective Snr Cnst Shawn Adams of going through 200 “clearly privileged” messages between de Belin and RMB lawyers’ Craig Osborn with a “fine-toothed comb”.
The documents were titled: ‘Craig lawyer’.
De Belin’s yellow Nokia was not compatible with the police Cellebrite system used to extract data from phones, so a detective took photos of the phone’s content instead.
“You sat in your office and went through image by image,” Mr Campbell asked.
The officer responded: “I scrolled through, yes.”
Det Adams admitted he did not disclose this to the prosecution or the defence as was required.
The detective admitted to a court on February 7 he knew documents were related to the case and he had “wilfully lied” to a court the day earlier, when he said he thought the documents were about “Dragons’ business”.
Mr Campbell asked the officer today, “you wilfully lied to the court? Correct?”
“Yes,” Det Adams replied.
The officer denied he looked through the material to “undermine the defence” of de Belin, as Mr Campbell suggested.
In cross-examination, Crown prosecutor David Scully SC read more of the February 7 transcript to the court where the officer said he was “confused” by questioning the previous day.
Det Adams was questioned on inconsistencies in statements made by the alleged assault victim.
The court heard the woman initially told detectives de Belin redirected the taxi to the Gipps St apartment so they could change their clothes, which the officer noted in his computer system.
But in her formal police statement, she told police they went back to the house to charge their mobile phones.
Mr Campbell asked the detective, “you had a responsibility to disclose this inconsistency to the prosecution and defence, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Det Adams replied.
The officer denied he “buried” the evidence.
He told the court in his long career as a police officer he has never known another officer to provide details from that computer system to the prosecution and defence.
Det Adams admitted “in hindsight” he should have told police the woman initially said Sinclair helped De Belin take off her shorts.
In her formal statement, she told police it was just de Belin who had removed them.
“The words ‘with assistance of Sinclair’ were very important words,” Mr Campbell said.
The detective agreed.
“Yet you didn’t tell that to the defence or prosecution?” Mr Campbell asked.
“No, I didn’t,” Det Adams responded.
Det Adams told the court the woman only told a short account of the night when she reported the assault, but elaborated in her formal statement.
“People will give you a summary when they first speak. When you take a statement it’s in depth,” the detective told the court.
The detective told the court the woman failed to tell him she tapped Callan on the arm before leaving the line of Fever nightclub.
Or that de Belin had stopped on the street to “laugh” and pose in pictures.
The trial before Judge Andrew Haesler continues.
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