Jack de Belin, Callan Sinclair trial: Alleged victim asked friends for help
The woman allegedly raped by St George Illawarra and NSW Origin star Jack De Belin sent social media messages to friends in the hours after the incident asking for help, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A woman accusing rugby league star Jack de Belin of rape sent two male friends social media messages seeking “help” that night, a court has heard.
The two young men were questioned this morning in the Wollongong District Court as NSW State of Origin player de Belin, 29, and co-accused Callan Sinclair stand trial over the alleged abuse of a 19-year-old woman at an apartment two years ago.
De Belin and Sinclair have pleaded not guilty to five counts each of aggravated sexual assault, maintaining the sex after a pub crawl in the early hours of December 9, 2018, was consensual.
The court previously heard the trio met at Mr Crown bar, with CCTV footage showing the woman dancing with both De Belin and Sinclair, and kissing the latter.
The woman’s first male friend to front the court on Wednesday - who cannot be named for legal reasons - said the alleged victim messaged him on Instagram at 2.11am that Sunday morning.
“(Name of the man), I need your help,” the victim sent, in a message read to the court.
A second male friend to be questioned told the court he received a message on Snapchat from the woman that night which simply read: “Help”.
The words were written over a blank picture.
The man had opened the message on Sunday afternoon, because he lost his phone during the pub crawl and had to pick it up from the Wollongong Hotel.
He told the court the woman sent him a message later that day from the police station, which said “something along the lines of, ‘not this’, or, ‘how annoying’”.
“There was a text, I can’t remember exactly what it said,” the man told the court.
“It was something along the lines of, ‘not this’, or, ‘how annoying’. Like she was trying to get my attention. Something was wrong, anyway.”
The court heard the man asked her “what happened” and the woman responded: “I got raped”.
The man said “Um OK, yeah OK. How, by who?”
The pair continued to message and at some point the woman said: “Hard to say how it all happened”, the court heard.
In cross-examination, De Belin’s barrister David Campbell SC asked about Facebook messages the pair had sent prior to the man getting his phone back that Sunday.
The man said the woman had called the Wollongong Hotel and helped him find his phone, but they had not discussed the alleged sexual assault until later that day.
The man’s roommate was then questioned briefly about a picture he took of the Snapchat messages, before sharing it with friends.
“In 2018 you were living with (the second witness),” crown prosecutor David Scully SC said.
“At some stage he shows you Snapchat messages between him and (the woman). You took a photo of his screen and sent it to various people on Snapchat.
The man was shown a picture of the posts.
“Is that the picture of his phone that you took and the Snapchat post you sent?” Mr Scully said.
“Yep,” the third witness responded.
The trial continues on Thursday.
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