Melbourne junior Olympian climber Ned Middlehurst found not guilty of rape charge: County Court
A talented junior Melbourne sports climber charged with raping a young woman has been cleared of the allegation by a jury.
South East
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A former junior Olympian sports climber accused of raping a young woman while not wearing a condom has been cleared by a jury.
Ned Middlehurst, 22, fronted the County Court on Tuesday where a jury found him not guilty of rape.
Mr Middlehurst, who maintained his innocence, allegedly raped a young woman inside his bedroom at his parent’s Bittern home in late-2021.
It had been alleged Mr Middlehurst did not wear a condom and ejaculated inside the young woman after a short act of sexual penetration.
The jury heard the woman consented to the sexual penetration but only if Mr Middlehurst wore a condom.
Mr Middlehurst does not deny having unprotected sex with the woman nor does he deny ejaculating inside the alleged victim.
Mr Middlehurst disputed allegations the young woman had not consented to sexual penetration without a condom.
The court heard Mr Middlehurst penetrated the woman from behind after he reached for a condom but did not place it on his penis prior to sexual intercourse.
The young woman told Mr Middlehurst she would only have sex with him if he wore a condom because she had an abortion three months earlier.
The woman also told Mr Middlehurst she had an Intra Uterine Device fitted to prevent pregnancy but she hadn’t checked with a GP to see if the IUD was working so she couldn’t risk unprotected sex.
The pair had sex just prior to the alleged rape but Mr Middlehurst stopped the intercourse because he wore a condom.
“I don’t think anything will work …,” Mr Middlehurst said.
After a while the pair decided to have sex again.
“I’d really appreciate it if you wore a condom,” the woman allegedly said.
“Yeah, of course,” Mr Middlehurst allegedly responded.
The pair engaged in sexual intercourse after the woman “believed” Mr Middlehurst had worn a condom, the court was told.
The woman saw Mr Middlehurst reach for a condom and heard the rustling of packaging but Mr Middlehurst never wore the condom, the jury heard.
The intercourse lasted one to four minutes before Mr Middlehurst ejaculated inside the woman.
The woman then “curled and cried” on Mr Middlehurst’s bed.
“You knew I didn’t want that” she allegedly said.
“I’m so sorry,” Mr Middlehurst allegedly replied.
The woman messaged two “good friends” and told them what she believed had allegedly happened.
“He did something pretty bad, I don’t want to say it, prepare yourself … rape,” the woman allegedly said.
Mr Middlehurst, a talented sports climber and former junior Olympian, who worked at Bayside Rock at the time of the incident, allegedly told a colleague the “sex was consensual” but he “chose not to wear a condom”.
The woman reported the alleged rape to police who set up a pretext call between her and Mr Middlehurst.
“I told you we need to keep wearing a condom … but you didn’t put one on,” the woman allegedly said.
“I had intention … but I just didn’t … I didn’t forget … I just blurred the lines,” Mr Middlehurst allegedly responded.
“I literally said wear a condom and you said ‘yes’,” the woman allegedly replied.
Mr Middlehurst, of Bittern, was arrested at his parents’ home shortly after the pretext call.
In a statement to police, Middlehurst said “it happened pretty fast”.
“I didn’t want it to happen (ejaculate) but it happened,” he said.
“She wasn’t very happy about it … I said I was sorry a lot of times … I thought it was mostly about not coming inside (the alleged victim) …
“I knew what I had done, I was distraught …”
The defence submitted Mr Middlehurst was “not a rapist”.
“He is innocent …,” the defence submitted.
“He’s not quite a kid but he’s close … he believes ejaculating inside (the alleged victim) is rape.”
The defence told the jury their client and the woman had sex prior to the alleged rape where Mr Middlehurst was allowed to commence intercourse without wearing a condom but had to put one on after a few sexual thrusts.
The defence said it was up to the jury to find without a reasonable doubt that Mr Middlehurst believed he did not have consent to penetrate the woman while not wearing a condom.
The jury heard Mr Middlehurst’s admissions to ejaculating inside the alleged victim did not prove he had a reasonable belief she had not consented to unprotected sex.
Mr Middlehurst was discharged from court.
