Daniel James Wilson found not guilty of raping woman twice near Havana Nightclub, Surfers Paradise
A Surfers Paradise ex-nightclub promoter has spoken out after the verdict was handed down in a week-long rape trial. Read his first words.
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LATEST: A Gold Coast nightclub promoter found not guilty of raping a woman twice in a toilet nearby has revealed his relief at the verdict.
Former Havana RnB nightclub promoter Daniel James - who pleaded not guilty and had maintained throughout that any sexual contact was entirely consensual - was acquitted on Monday after a week-long trial in the Southport District Court.
Outside the court, soon after on Monday, he told the Bulletin: “I am relieved and I want to get on with my life.”
THE VERDICT: A nightclub promoter has been acquitted of raping a woman twice in a Surfers Paradise toilet on a night out in 2019.
Daniel James Wilson was accused of raping the 18-year-old woman on November 28, 2019 in a bathroom near the Havana RnB Nightclub. It was only accessible to Havana staff and staff of another club.
Mr Wilson pleaded not guilty in the Southport District Court last week to two counts of rape.
On Monday - the fifth day of trial - the jury of seven men and five women found him not guilty on both charges.
Throughout the trial Mr Wilson had maintained any sexual contact the pair had was entirely consensual.
When the jury delivered their verdict, Mr Wilson let out a deep sigh.
One of his supporters in the back of court said: “Oh, thank God.”
On Thursday last week, Wilson told the court the 18-year-old had kissed him.
“I said I don’t know if I can do this,” he said.
Mr Wilson told the jury the woman kept kissing him and said “no one would ever know”.
He said the woman had initiated the sex.
Mr Wilson also told the court he lied about having consensual sex with the woman as he was engaged to be married.
Also on Thursday, the jury was told the friend made a statement to police in February, in which she said the woman was laughing about the incident.
The trial was also plagued with delays and stops which included the jury hearing less than an hour of evidence on the second day.
The Bulletin can now reveal that Wilson became seriously ill during the trial which included him being taken to hospital in an ambulance.
After the first witness on Wednesday morning, Wilson could be heard breathing heavily.
His barrister Isaac Munsie, instructed by Dib & Associates, asked for a break.
As the door to the jury room closed, Wilson began retching loudly into a sick bag. It was not clear if any jury members saw or heard him.
Wilson went to the bathroom for some time before being taken into a nearby office where he could be heard retching even though the door was closed.
Paramedics were called and they determined he needed to be taken to hospital.
Mr Munsie told the court Mr Wilson had a kidney infection and had been in hospital for it prior to the trial.
He said it was not clear if he would be fit for trial on Thursday morning.
Judge Jodie Wooldridge adjourned the trial for the day but made the decision to keep the jury in the dark about what was going on.
They were only told the case was being adjourned for the day.
The next morning when the trial resumed, Mr Wilson appearing well, the jury was only told he had been sick and received medical treatment.
EARLIER: Jurors have begun deliberations in the trial of a nightclub promoter accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in Surfers Paradise.
It is alleged Daniel James Wilson – a promoter at Havana RnB Nightclub – raped the woman twice in a bathroom near the club on November 28, 2019 after the teenager had been vomiting.
Wilson on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape.
Throughout the trial Wilson maintained any sexual contact was consensual.
On Monday morning – on day five of the trial – jurors begun deliberating a verdict.
During the trial, the court was told the teenager knew Wilson and had been messaging him in the hopes of meeting a Love Island star who was appearing at the club.
He gave her a lift into Surfers Paradise and they split for the night, the court was told.
It was alleged they met later that night.
The jury was told in the early hours he took the woman to the toilets only available to Havana staff and staff at another club.
The court was told the woman vomited and when she turned around Wilson kissed her.
The court was told it was then Wilson allegedly raped the woman.
On Thursday last week, Wilson told the court the 18-year-old had kissed him.
“I said I don’t know if I can do this,” he said.
Wilson told the jury the woman kept kissing him and said “no one would ever know”.
He also told the court he lied about having consensual sex with the woman as he was engaged to be married.
Also on Thursday, the jury was told the friend made a statement to police in February, in which she said the woman was laughing about the incident.
The jury began deliberations about 10.15 on Monday morning after Judge Jodie Wooldridge finished giving directions.
Day 4 – Crown claims rape accused’s version ‘inherently fantastical’
Jurors are expected to begin deliberations on Monday to determine if a nightclub promoter raped a woman in a nearby toilet in Surfers Paradise after a four-day trial.
Havana RnB Nightclub promoter Daniel James Wilson pleaded not guilty in the Southport District Court on Tuesday to two counts of rape.
It was alleged he raped an 18-year-old woman twice in bathrooms near the popular Surfers Paradise nightclub in the early hours of November 28, 2019.
Wilson has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, claiming any sexual contact the pair had was consensual.
On Friday – the fourth day of trial – the prosecutor and defence gave their final summary of the evidence to the jury.
Wilson’s barrister Isaac Munsie, instructed by Dib & Associates, urged the jury to carefully consider the complainant’s testimony.
“There was a lot of times she didn’t remember,” he said.
He also questioned her version of events which included that Wilson had kissed her just after she had been vomiting.
“To kiss someone who has just vomited – I suggest it doesn’t pass muster,” Mr Munsie said.
Mr Munsie told the jury to also consider the CCTV of the woman leaving the toilet area following the alleged rape.
“She wasn’t distressed, wasn’t crying,” he said.
Mr Munsie said she went to another person and asked for water and called her boyfriend to sleep over that night and did not tell either of the alleged rape.
He also urged the jurors to consider the evidence of the woman’s friend who had been out with her the night of the alleged rape.
The court has been told the woman told her friend about the alleged rape a day or two later.
On Thursday a statement from the friend was read where she described the woman as laughing as she spoke about the rape.
Crown prosecutor Eddie Coker on Friday told the jury the version given by the woman was “a painfully true story”.
“I am not sure there were witnesses who did remember everything due to the passage of time,” he said.
Mr Coker said Wilson’s version he gave the jury on Thursday was “inherently fantastical” and “an unlikely account of events”.
He pointed to a Facebook message Wilson sent after being confronted about the alleged rape by a mutual friend of him and the woman.
In that message Wilson lied and denied any sexual contact with the woman, the court was told.
Mr Coker said in the message Wilson said the woman was completely wasted.
He pointed out that Wilson told the jury on Thursday she “seemed sober” before they had sex and when he saw her later she was a bit more intoxicated than she had been earlier.
Judge Jodie Wooldridge began her summing up of the evidence on Friday.
The summing up is expected to be completed on Monday after which the jury will begin deliberations.
Day 3 – Snapchat message sent the night of alleged rape, jury told
The nightclub promoter accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in a disabled toilet has told a jury the teenager sent him a suggestive message.
Havana RnB Nightclub promoter Daniel James Wilson told the Southport District Court on Thursday that the woman had sent him a Snapchat message that night saying: “You should come take me somewhere”.
Wilson also said he lied about having any sexual encounters with the woman when a mutual friend confronted him. He said he lied because he had a fiance.
It is alleged Wilson raped the woman twice in a bathroom near Havana on November 28, 2019 after the teenager had been vomiting.
Wilson on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape.
On Thursday – the third day of trial – the club promoter took the stand to put forward his version of events.
He told the court he knew of the woman and she had contacted him to try to arrange to meet a Love Island contestant who would be appearing at Havana.
Wilson said he agreed and gave the woman and a friend a lift into Surfers Paradise that night.
He told the court they parted ways when they arrived in Surfers and they did not see each other until later that night when the woman returned to Havana.
Wilson said he took the woman and her friend to the toilets later that night.
He said they parted ways again and he received the Snapchat message from the woman.
Wilson said they met up and he took her to a bathroom – which was only accessible by Havana staff and staff of another club – and that the woman kissed him.
“I said I don’t know if I can do this,” Wilson said.
Wilson told the jury the woman kept kissing him and said “no one would ever know”.
He told the court the 18-year-old initiated the sex.
Wilson said they then parted ways again but later he saw her walking down the street alone so asked her for her phone and ordered her an Uber.
Wilson was also asked about text messages he had sent a mutual friend of himself and the woman.
The friend had confronted Wilson about the allegations, the court was told.
Wilson claims he lied about having sex with the woman as he had done so while at work and he had a fiance.
The court was told in the messages, Wilson had told the friend the woman was “wasted”.
Crown prosecutor Eddie Coker asked Wilson how intoxicated the woman was when they had sex.
“She seemed pretty sober,” Wilson replied.
Wilson said he exaggerated in the text message.
Wilson also denied seeing or hearing the woman vomit that night.
Earlier on Thursday a friend of the alleged victim told the jury the pair had gone out clubbing on the night of the alleged rapes.
The friend, who cannot be named as it will identify the alleged victim, said she could not remember how much the pair had drunk that night and left Surfers Paradise in an Uber.
The friend said within the next two days the woman told her something had happened with Wilson.
“It was something along the lines of ‘I sucked Daniel’s d***’,” she said.
The jury was told the friend made a statement to police in February where she said the woman was laughing about the incident.
The court was told that in the statement the woman said she did not want to give a statement because she assumed it was different to everyone else’s.
“Mine was a little bit different to everyone else’s, she told everyone else over text. I don’t know what she said to everyone else … but she told me that she sucked his d--- and I’m assuming she said something different to everyone else,” the friend told the court on Thursday.
Defence barrister Isaac Munsie read a portion of what was said: “I don’t want to write a statement about it. Like, she called me the next morning laughing about it.”
Mr Munsie said in another part of her statement the friend said “she was laughing about it … no regret whatsoever until someone said, ‘oh well, he has a missus’ and then she was crying to all of my friends”.
The friend agreed she had said that and that was what she remembered.
Mr Munsie asked the friend if what the woman described to her was something that was consensual the friend replied: “Not necessarily”.
Mr Munsie pointed out the friend had said the alleged victim was laughing.
“I laugh about serious things when I’m not supposed to,” the friend told the court.
Other friends of the woman told the court the woman had told them about the night and that it was not consensual.
The evidence comes after the second day of the trial was cut short when Wilson became ill on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, jurors were told Wilson and been sick and received medical treatment but not to speculate any further.
The trial continues.
Day 2: Nightclub promoter allegedly raped woman in toilets
A woman allegedly raped by a club host told a friend about he ordeal in the days after it happened, a jury has been told.
Havana RnB Nightclub promoter Daniel James Wilson pleaded not guilty in the Southport District Court on Tuesday to two counts of rape.
It is alleged he raped a woman twice in the disabled public bathroom near the Havana Nightclub.
Wilson denies raping the woman and claims any sexual contact was entirely consensual.
On Wednesday – the second day of trial – a woman who knows both Wilson and the alleged victim told the jury the woman told her about the alleged rape in late 2019.
She said she was pretty sure the conversation happened just after Schoolies.
“She said she was out drinking one night and she had been taken into a bathroom and he had tried or had slept with her,” the woman told the court.
The woman also described what the alleged victim had told her had happened.
But she said she “can’t really remember much” as it was almost three years ago.
The trial will continue on Thursday.
Day 1: Allegedly raped just outside Surfers nightclub
A woman was allegedly raped twice in a public bathroom by a venue promoter just outside of a popular Surfers Paradise nightclub, a jury has been told.
Daniel James Wilson, a then promoter at the Havana R n B Nightclub, claims the sexual contact between him and the women was entirely consensual, the Southport District Court was told.
It is alleged he raped the woman twice on November 28, 2019.
Wilson pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to two counts of rape.
He now faces a jury trial expected to go for up to four days.
Crown prosecutor Eddie Coker told the jury in his opening statement the alleged victim knew Wilson as a club promoter and had exchanged text messages with him in an attempt to meet a VIP appearing at Havana.
“When she went for a night out in late November 2019 she did not expect it to end the way it did,” he said.
“No one would.”
Mr Coker said the women and a friend met with Wilson in Surfers Paradise and the two women went to a different club before they went to Havana.
Both women were drinking, the jury was told.
Mr Coker said the two women left Havana and went to nearby public bathrooms where the alleged victim vomited.
The court was told the two women then left the bathrooms and could be seen talking on the street for some time before the alleged victim’s friend left.
Mr Coker told the court the woman remained in Surfers Paradise, got in line to get back into Havana before leaving the line.
The jury was told the woman and Wilson met again on the street before going to the nearby public bathrooms.
Mr Coker said Wilson suggested the woman used the disabled toilets.
He said she threw up in the toilets while Wilson was at the door.
“She went to the sink to wash herself up,” Mr Coker said.
“When she turned around, the defendant was right there and he kissed her.”
Mr Coker said the woman cannot remember how she reacted.
It was then Wilson allegedly raped the woman.
“(The woman) will tell you she did not consent to this,” he said.
Mr Coker told the jury the woman admits there are parts of the night she cannot remember.
He told the court a friend of the woman days later exchanged text messages with Wilson, who denied anything sexual happening between him and the woman.
Mr Coker read agreed admissions to the court which included Wilson admitted the pair had sexual contact.
Defence barrister Isaac Munsie, instructed by Dib & Associates, said “the issue will be about consent”.
“He says she consented, she says he is lying,” he said.
Mr Munsie urged the jury to pay close attention to what each of the witnesses said and the things the woman says she cannot remember.
The trial continues.
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