Court hears prison officer "traded favours" before sexual assaults

"The women felt intimidated, the women were vulnerable to being transferred": Prosecutor.

"The women felt intimidated, the women were vulnerable to being transferred": Prosecutors.

A high-ranking prison officer accused of raping multiple inmates had a “tendency” for dolling out favours and intimidation, prosecutors allege.

Wayne Gregory Astill, 65, is currently fighting more than 40 charges of sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated indecent assault, and misconduct in public office, related to nine female inmates at the Dillwynia Correctional Centre in northwest NSW.

Astill worked at the centre from 2009 and was promoted to chief correctional officer in 2017, after which many of the alleged incidents took place.

The court heard in numerous cases the women agreed to have oral or penile-vaginal sex with Astill because they believed they had no other option or were threatened with being moved to another prison. He also "traded favours" with the women, such as giving them medicine, tobacco and longer phone calls, according to prosecutors.

Some of the women allegedly resisted to no avail. The threats are also a reason why, the crown prosecutors say, many women did not report the assaults sooner.

Astill has also pleaded guilty to seven counts of misconduct in public office in relation to what he says were consensual, albeit inappropriate, sexual relationships with four inmates. His lawyers say this set him up for potential “blackmail and accusations” in relation to the sexual assault charges he now faces.

The court heard about bizarre sexual ‘favours’ he allegedly "incited" inmates to perform. In one instance, he asked an inmate to walk around with a Lebanese cucumber inside of her, prosecutors allege, to show him later. When he started touching her, she faked an orgasm because she thought it was the quickest way to get out of there, prosecutors allege.

In another alleged incident, he approached an inmate who was vacuuming and kissed her. She tried to turn away but ultimately complied, remembering that he had previously threatened to transfer her to another prison. He sexually assaulted her before asking if she was "ok" to which she replied: “Yeah, I’m fine”. She put the vacuum back on and continued cleaning.

Dozens of detailed incidents like these were read out to the court in the opening address of his trial, including inviting inmates to his office without reason and pushing himself on them.

Crown prosecutor Sean Hughes said, in terms of consenting freely, “they were Mr Astill’s prisoners. There’s a power imbalance there”.

“The crown says that authority that power imbalance between jailer and prisoner, between Astill and these women, goes towards explaining why there was not an immediate complaint. The women felt intimidated, the women were vulnerable to being transferred. There was an enormous power which could be wielded over those women,” he said.

After police started investigating him, he told fellow officers he couldn’t get an erection because he had erectile dysfunction, which prosecutors say “was a lie”.

He was arrested in early 2019.

The trial is set to go for six weeks.