By Sarah McPhee
Warning: This story contains graphic content
A Byron Bay man accused of raping a woman at The Star in Sydney has told his trial the pair had consensual sex before an argument inside the hotel room, claiming she hit him first before he was “over the top of her” and struck her four times in the head.
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt has pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault inflicting actual bodily harm, multiple counts of sexual intercourse without consent and choking over the alleged incident in Pyrmont in 2022. He admits he punched the woman that night.
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt outside court during his sexual assault trial.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Having walked from the dock into the witness box on Thursday, the 22-year-old was questioned by his barrister Peter Skinner about a group cruise on Darling Harbour, drinks at a pub and what allegedly unfolded inside the hotel room.
Fitzpatrick Burtt said he knew the woman was going to be on the cruise, and they danced, kissed, and she sat on his lap, but denied he was “harassing” her or that she was his “target” for attention.
He said a woman from a random hen’s group drank a shot of liquor off his stomach for “a bit of fun”.
Later that night, when the complainant was denied entry to the casino because she did not have the correct ID, Fitzpatrick Burtt said she “kind of just walked off” and “asked me to go with her”.
“We were chatting and getting along quite well,” he said.
He said they rejoined the group for drinks at a nearby pub, then the woman said she needed to “retrieve her vape and charge her phone” at the hotel. Fitzpatrick Burtt said he was asked by the complainant and their male acquaintance, who had the room key, to go with them.
Inside the room, after the male friend had left, he said the woman asked for a “cuddle” and patted the bed. He said he asked her, “Can we have sex?” and she replied, “Not yet,” while on her phone.
The woman alleges she was sexually assaulted inside a room at The Star Grand Hotel in Sydney.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Fitzpatrick Burtt said he was not sure how many minutes passed but claimed the woman “initiated kissing” and “sometime after that, I rolled on top of her”.
“She was consenting,” he said.
Asked by his barrister how he knew that, he said there were “no signs of discomfort” and “she didn’t say ‘no’.”
The accused said he took his pants off, and the woman assisted him in taking her underwear off before they “engaged in some consensual sex”.
Fitzpatrick Burtt said the woman “fully consented” to perform oral sex on him, but it “wasn’t sparking”, and they both got dressed.
‘That’s when I come over the top of her. I hit her four times in the head. She screamed, Stop, stop, stop, stop.’
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt
He said there were a few things on his mind he wanted to raise with the woman, including her “attitude” on the cruise and her jealousy.
“I made comments to her … called her a jealous slut that she didn’t like,” he said. “That caused her to come at me. She hit me in the top of the head.”
Fitzpatrick Burtt began crying as he gave evidence that he had then “pushed her really hard”.
“She hit the wall. That’s when I come over the top of her,” he said. “I hit her four times in the head. She screamed, ‘Stop, stop, stop, stop.’”
The accused said he held the woman in his arms and apologised.
“I said ‘I’m so sorry … I didn’t mean to do that’,” he said. “She was swollen … I was in so much shock that I’d just hurt her.”
He said he called for ice from the room service “so I could take care of her”, and the woman looked at herself in the mirror before applying ice to her face.
Fitzpatrick Burtt said the woman then called their female acquaintance, who had also booked the room.
“Something just come over me again,” he said. “I didn’t kick her or stomp on her or nothing. I went to go her again. She just screamed, ‘No, no, no, no.’ I didn’t go anywhere near her after that.”
The accused said two people, including their female acquaintance, then arrived, and he was “embarrassed”.
“The only thing I cared about was that I hurt her,” he said.
“No one should ever get hurt ever, male or female, violence is stupid.”
In her evidence, the woman alleged she was strangled, headbutted, kicked and raped inside the hotel room before she left and reported the incident to security and police in the lobby.
Fitzpatrick Burtt also denied choking the woman on two earlier occasions. The trial continues next week at Downing Centre District Court.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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