TV dance star’s attempt to quash sexual touching conviction

A former Dancing With the Stars contestant is appealing after he was convicted of sexually touching a woman inside a Sydney dance studio.

A former Dancing With the Stars contestant who was found guilty of sexually touching a woman during a dance session and later climbing into bed naked with her has launched a bid to quash his convictions.

Trenton Shipley, 50, was last year sentenced to one year behind bars after he was found guilty of three counts of sexually touching a woman inside a unit and attached dance studio in Annandale, in Sydney’s inner west, in 2021.

Magistrate Julia Virgo last year sentenced Shipley, best known for finishing runner-up on season three of Dancing with the Stars in 2005, to a maximum of one year in prison.

Trenton Shipley is appealing his conviction for sexually touching a woman. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The court heard the allegations related to a series of incidents while Shipley was teaching the woman — who cannot be named — how to dance the rumba at an Annandale dance studio, which belonged to a mutual friend.

Both were staying in separate beds inside the apartment attached to the studio that evening.

The most serious of the charges related to allegations that early in the morning Shipley climbed into the woman’s bed while naked, then touched her vagina and breasts over her clothes.

Mr Shipley on Tuesday appeared before Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court in a bid to quash his convictions.

Immediately after he was sentenced in the local court last year, he launched an appeal and was freed on bail.

His barrister Greg Stanton on Tuesday told an appeal hearing that he relied on what he described as a series of inconsistencies in the Crown case and the woman’s evidence.

Trenton Shipley on season three of Dancing With the Stars. Picture: Supplied

The court heard he was also convicted of kissing and groping the woman during a dance, as well as touching her thigh in the kitchen.

The group was drinking that night, including alcoholic watermelon slushies, and Mr Shipley had become progressively more drunk.

The court further heard after the earlier incidents, she had further interactions with him in the dance studio in which she asked for further “tips and tricks”.

The Crown prosecution argued the woman agreed to dance with Shipley in an attempt to placate him.

Mr Stanton also pointed to what he described as seeming inconsistencies in a series of social media messages she sent to friends immediately after the incident in the bedroom, as well as the following morning.

The matter will return to court on Wednesday.

Originally published as TV dance star’s attempt to quash sexual touching conviction