By Sarah McPhee
A 22-year-old Byron Bay man has been jailed for a decade for the violent assault and rape of a woman inside Sydney’s The Star Grand Hotel, which a judge said would have been “extremely frightening” for the victim, who remains haunted by nightmares and fears being left alone.
A NSW District Court jury found Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt guilty in August of four counts of sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated sexual assault inflicting actual bodily harm and choking against the woman inside the hotel on a night in 2022. He had earlier admitted to a single assault charge.
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt outside court during his sexual assault trial.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Fitzpatrick Burtt, who turns 23 this weekend, and the woman had been on a Darling Harbour cruise with a group before having drinks at a pub. When the woman went back to the hotel room to collect some things before another party, she said Fitzpatrick Burtt pinned her to the ground, asked for sex, and she said “no”.
The woman said Fitzpatrick Burtt punched her in the head and headbutted her, forced sexual acts and repeatedly raped her.
CCTV later captured the woman holding her swollen face as she arrived in the hotel foyer, where she told security and police she had thought she was going to die.
Fitzpatrick Burtt was found guilty of raping a woman inside The Star.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Sentencing Fitzpatrick Burtt in Sydney on Friday morning, Chief Judge Sarah Huggett said she had “no doubt the offender knew the victim was not freely and voluntarily consenting”.
She said the victim had been “overcome by fear” after the first assault, and at times “acquiesced” because she was “scared the offender would hurt her again”.
“The circumstances in which each offence was committed would have been extremely frightening, particularly when the offender told the victim she was ‘getting what she deserved’,” the judge said.
The judge said the woman had “pleaded” with Fitzpatrick Burtt to stop, and “curled into a ball and covered her head and face with her hands to protect herself” before she was kicked, had an ice bucket thrown over her and was dragged across the room by her hair.
“The victim was terrified,” Huggett said.
She jailed Fitzpatrick Burtt for 10 years with a non-parole period of five and a half years.
In a victim impact statement, obtained by the Herald and read to the court by a support person earlier this month, the woman said she had been left paranoid, distrusting and worried “people can be as dangerous as Joel”.
“Nightmares haunt my sleep, often jolting me awake and leaving me anxious and disorientated. Because of these nightmares, I struggle to be home alone, as the solitude makes me feel even more vulnerable,” she said.
“During the day, a constant paranoia hangs over me, manifesting as a fear that people are out to hurt me as an act of retaliation sent by Joel.”
The woman said she checks cupboards and rooms for intruders and often sits in her car, waiting for others to arrive home.
She said she suffered significant physical harm from the incident and is anxious to be physically close to others.
“The trauma of being taken advantage of has made me timid and apprehensive when it comes to intimacy,” she said. “Memories of that night resurface, making it hard to trust anyone completely.”
The defence had submitted that while Fitzpatrick Burtt maintains his innocence regarding the sexual offences, he was “extremely remorseful” for the physical assault on the victim, having admitted to hitting her four times in the head.
Fitzpatrick Burtt alleged the woman hit him first after he called her a “jealous slut” over her attitude on the cruise, and claimed he then retaliated.
Fitzpatrick Burtt’s lawyers said his remorse was demonstrated by his distress listening to her evidence at trial, and that he “stopped himself from continuing each offence”.
The judge rejected that submission. Huggett said the offender “provided a very different narrative” for the assault, which the jury rejected, had not demonstrated genuine remorse, and “continues to discredit the victim, describing her as attention-seeking”.
“The best that can currently be said is that his prospects of rehabilitation are guarded,” Huggett said.
She was prepared to find that Fitzpatrick Burtt “presents as having a low risk of reoffending”, and that his young age acted to reduce his moral culpability.
Fitzpatrick Burtt’s mother and other supporters sat in the public gallery as he appeared via video link with a shaved head.
The sentence was backdated, making him eligible for parole in June 2029. The maximum term will expire in December 2033.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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