Not guilty: Chinese film star and producer acquitted of raping Sydney woman
A famous Chinese film star and a TV producer have been found not guilty of raping a woman in a luxury Sydney hotel.
Police & Courts
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A Chinese movie star and a producer have been acquitted of raping a woman in a luxury Sydney hotel.
The crew member accused actor Yunxiang Gao and producer Jing Wang of making her their sex “slave” at the Shangri-La Hotel in 2018, but the 37-year-olds insisted the woman willingly joined their threesome after a TV series wrap party.
The duo was found not guilty of a raft of charges including aggravated sexual assault in company at Downing Centre District Court on Thursday.
After less than two days of deliberating, a jury rejected the Crown case that the men “tortured” the China-born Australian resident.
The Crown had claimed Mr Gao allegedly ejaculated on her face and mocked her while Wang forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Mr Gao’s barrister Murugan Thangaraj SC said the married woman jumped at a once-in-a-lifetime chance to have sex with the celebrity at The Rocks in the early hours of March 27, 2018.
Mr Wang’s barrister Margaret Cunneen SC said the seductive complainant kept her husband in the dark about her infidelity, threw two innocent men under the bus to protect herself from getting caught, lied to police and then tried to fool a jury.
Mr Thangaraj said Mr Wang invited the alleged victim back to his hotel room around 2.30am after they were seen “kissing passionately” at a karaoke club by colleagues and on CCTV footage.
Mr Gao’s lawyer said when his handsome client joined them the starstruck woman couldn’t believe her luck, but she insisted she only thought the trio were there to talk “business’’.
During the trial the complainant tearfully said Mr Gao and Mr Wang ignored her crying pleas to let her go and, after being forced onto her hands and knees, she eventually appeared compliant at times while acting out of fear.
The complainant’s husband also gave evidence that when she finally came home at dawn he confronted her, repeatedly saying “tell me what happened, don’t lie”, until she burst out crying and told him: “they forced me’’.
But the jury accepted the defence case that the woman’s furious partner may have pressured his wife into making a police complaint and she went along with it for the sake of her marriage.
During fiery testimony the complainant accused Ms Cunneen of trying to “twist the truth” and rejected claims she flirtatiously asked Wang to buy her a Bentley the night of her alleged attack because “a boyfriend needs to deliver his promises’’.
The woman said she initially denied having forced vaginal sex to police because she was embarrassed about her husband finding out.
The court was packed full of Chinese media and fans scrambling to catch a glimpse of Gao during the trial, and several times the judge had to warn them not to record footage on their phones or live blog the proceedings.
Mr Thangaraj said the case against Mr Gao relied entirely on the lies of the complainant.
“If we start convicting on evidence like this, no-one will be safe from a false allegation,” he said.