David Gabrieli: Alleged Bumble, RSVP date rapist ‘followed script’

A man accused of sexually assaulting four women he met on dating apps had a script “he was not prepared to deviate from”, a Sydney jury has been told.

A man accused of sexually assaulting four women he met on dating applications had a “modus operandi” and persisted despite their objections, a Sydney jury has been told.

David Gabrieli has pleaded not guilty in the NSW District Court to 22 charges including 13 counts of indecent assault, five counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of detaining for advantage.

The alleged offending relates to four women the 39-year-old met via the dating applications RSVP and Bumble between August 2017 and January 2018.

The jury has been told he was kicked off Bumble when his third alleged victim reported him, and his fourth alleged victim was a woman from the app whose phone number he had saved.

Mr Gabrieli, who allegedly used photos of Albanian professional soccer player Lorik Cana, has admitted to creating fake dating profiles and pretending to be a doctor online.

A photo of David Gabrieli made available at the time of his arrest.

WOMEN WERE ‘DELIBERATELY LURED’

In her closing address on Friday, crown prosecutor Sally Traynor told the jury one reason they may think each woman is “telling the truth” is due to the “similar sequence of events”.

“That is, modus operandi,” she said.

Ms Traynor described how on each occasion during the five-month period, each of the women had said “no” to Mr Gabrieli’s sexual advances and yet he allegedly “persisted”.

“You would utterly reject the evidence you heard from the accused that they were willing participants in the sexual events and in that all four cases the events unexpectedly turned sour,” Ms Traynor said.

She alleges Mr Gabrieli created a “ruse” to lure the women to his apartment in Maroubra, in the eastern suburbs, including having a headache, meeting at a coffee shop that was closing, forgetting an item at his home, and pretending to be “on call” for work at a nearby hospital.

“Something you would realise is a lie,” she said.

“His plans never seem to eventuate.”

Ms Traynor said the jury should reject Mr Gabrieli’s evidence that his fourth alleged victim “came for rough sex”.

“What the (text) messages support and show is that (she) believed they were going to Manly, and going to the aquarium,” she said on Friday.

“He manipulated and orchestrated her to meet him at Mascot (train station) and get her to his apartment when that was never the agreement.”

He met three of the women on Bumble and one on RSVP. Picture: Alexander Pohl/NurPhoto via Getty Images

FAKE DOCTOR ‘FOLLOWED A SCRIPT’

The jury has heard from Mr Gabrieli’s four alleged victims during his three-week Sydney trial.

One of the women said his behaviour “all seemed scripted”.

Ms Traynor alleges Mr Gabrieli has a tendency “to engage in abrupt sexual activity on the first occasion he meets with these women”.

“The accused in each case compliments them and then he moves in to kiss them,” she said.

“And when he is rebuffed, he continues.

“He’s not always rebuffed at the time of the kiss but he abruptly touches the breasts of each of the complainants and then he is clearly rejected by the complainants and he persists in light of the fact that each of them pull away and say no.”

She said all four women had been grabbed around the wrist and made to touch his erect penis.

“You would be satisfied the accused followed his script and was not prepared to deviate from it at all, even when the complainants said no,” Ms Traynor said.

She alleges on all occasions, “the events escalate”.

”He persists and he persists,” the crown prosecutor said.

Ms Traynor said the “most critical” issues for the jury to determine are whether the complainants were consenting and whether Mr Gabrieli knew they were not consenting.

“The central issue is about consent,” she said.

Ms Traynor will continue her closing address on Monday before defence barrister Mark Brady.

Judge Nicole Noman SC is presiding over the trial.