Olympian allegedly supplied alcohol to 17-year-old before sexual misconduct claim

Three-time Olympic figure skater Brendan Kerry allegedly supplied alcohol to a 17-year-old girl before the incident that resulted in his lifetime ban from coaching the sport in the US.

On Friday, Justice Stephen Rothman granted a suppression order on the identities of two alleged victims of sexual misconduct in Kerry’s defamation suit against the NSW Ice Skating Association (NSWISA), which the Olympian filed in the NSW Supreme Court in May.

Brendan Kerry skates during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.Credit: Getty Images

In May 2024, Kerry was given a lifetime ban from coaching ice skating in the US when the US Centre for SafeSport found he had engaged in “sexual misconduct involving a minor”. It upheld the ban after an appeal on September 16, 2024.

Kerry is claiming that NSWISA defamed him when it emailed its members regarding the Centre for SafeSport sanction, but did not mention that the ban had involved a 17-year-old in California when Kerry was 21. The age of sexual consent in California is 18. In NSW, it is 16. His lawyers say leaving this out of the email falsely implied Kerry was a paedophile or had sexually molested a child.

Kerry has denied the allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

In response to the defendants’ request for a suppression of the names of two alleged victims, Kerry’s lawyers argued he reserves the right to the “truth of these allegations being heard in open court”.

They also argued that had the alleged incident with the 17-year-old, known as Claimant No.1, occurred in NSW, it would have been “perfectly legal”.

In his judgment granting the suppression order, Rothman said the issue was “not so simple”.

“First, the allegation involves the supply of alcohol by the plaintiff to Claimant No. 1,” Rothman said, adding that there may also be a relationship of authority or trust with Claimant No. 1.

Rothman said had the crime occurred in NSW, “there are or may be issues associated with whether Claimant No. 1 was ‘so affected by alcohol … as to be incapable of consenting’ or participated ‘in the sexual activity because the person is overborne by the abuse of a relationship of authority, trust or dependence’.”

Lawyers for the NSW Ice Skating Association had requested the suppression orders out of concern for Claimant No. 1’s mental health.

“She’s having a difficult time. It’s hard for us to get access to her,” barrister Matthew Richardson, SC, said, adding that Claimant No. 1 had spoken of the “need to move forward with her life”.

The defendants also sought to suppress a second name, that of a 14-year-old alleged victim. Given she was a child at the time of the alleged crime in Queensland, it is an offence to identify her under the state’s criminal law.

In his decision, which was made public on Monday, Rothman recognised that granting the suppression order on “the names of these two alleged victims creates confidence in those victims to be able to give evidence openly and without fear of exposure and ridicule.

“Secondly, the making of such orders encourages other persons who are or may be the victims of sexual offending to come forward and openly complain about the conduct perpetrated against them.”

NSWISA’s lawyers did not seek a suppression order on the name of a third alleged victim, who they said has already made her allegation against Kerry public.

Kerry was an eight-time Australian national champion and competed in three Winter Olympic Games – in 2014, 2018 and 2022, when he was one of Australia’s flagbearers at the opening ceremony in Beijing.

The defamation case continues.

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