Alleged rape victim said ‘money cannot solve this problem’: Chinese film star and producer’s trial

A Sydney woman says she told the assistant of a Chinese producer who allegedly raped her with a movie star that “money cannot solve this problem” when asked to drop the charges.

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“Money cannot solve this problem.” That is what a Sydney woman claims she told the assistant of a Chinese producer who allegedly raped her alongside a movie star when asked to drop the charges.

Yunxiang Gao arrives at court with defence lawyer Warwick Korn on Friday. Picture: Ryan Pierse

Actor Yunxiang Gao and Jing Wang have pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the crew member at the Shangri-La Hotel last year, insisting the complainant consented to a threesome after a TV series wrap party held for the Chinese team.

The alleged victim says the 37-year-olds “tortured” her in Wang’s hotel room during the early hours of March 27, 2018, and later that day she went to a dinner for the production’s Australian crew members with her husband and daughter.

Gao was arrested along with another man, Jing Wang, after a woman claimed they sexually assaulted her on 27 March 2018 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney. Picture: Ryan Pierse

She told Downing Centre District Court by this time the two men were behind bars having been arrested, but Wang’s assistant showed up to the party uninvited to convince her to withdraw the charges, insisting it would ruin their careers.

The woman testified that the assistant asked her “can you think of any other way to solve this problem?” but she replied: “I have enough money. I don’t need money. Money cannot solve this problem.”

Wang’s lawyer argued that the assistant merely told the complainant “I need to know what happened” before the alleged victim made sure she was out of her husband’s earshot, and whispered: “for the sake of my family, I couldn’t tell the truth.”

“I didn’t say that,” the woman told the jury.

Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC said the woman’s angry husband then interrupted their private chat and “with fists clenched” told the assistant if the man responsible for hurting his wife was there “I would bash him up.”

“I don’t remember that conversation,” the complainant said.

Yunxiang Gao has pleaded not guilty. Picture: Dean Lewins

During firey testimony the complainant accused Ms Cunneen of trying to “twist the truth” and rejected claims she flirtatiously asked Wang to buy her a Bentley the night of her alleged attack because “a boyfriend needs to deliver his promises.”

Ms Cunneen suggested the “seductive” woman was “playing hard to get” while kissing Wang all night, and when Gao joined them in the hotel room “you couldn’t believe your luck.”

“Are you kidding me?” the alleged victim replied.

“It was you, wasn’t it, who initiated the oral sex with these men,” Ms Cunneen said.

“That’s a very disgusting question. You are a woman, too,” the complainant said.

“You have told lies to cover up your husband having found out,” Ms Cunneen said.

“No, I didn’t. You are telling the lies,” the woman replied.

The complainant says her husband found semen on her neck when she came home at dawn, but at the time he told police: “I noticed that there was a makeup mark on her neck.”

“Has it ever been your experience that makeup can be used on the neck to hide a lovebite?” Gao’s barrister John Korn asked.

“No I never thought of that. She washed it out,” the husband said.

The husband said he questioned why his partner was home so late but she hopped in the shower, having ignored his worried messages and calls most of the night.

“You would have been furious,” Mr Korn said.

“No. I just tried to find out what happened,” he replied.

The court heard the woman burst out crying when he repeatedly told her “don’t lie, don’t lie”, finally saying: “they forced me” before naming Wang and his business partner Li Ma.

Li Ma is not facing any charges.

The husband told the court he phoned police after the alleged victim fell asleep and also called those two men from his wife’s phone.

But he denied telling Mr Ma “f**k you, f**k your family, f**k your mum”, insisting: “I would never say that.

The trial continues before Judge Penelope Hock.

Originally published as Alleged rape victim said ‘money cannot solve this problem’: Chinese film star and producer’s trial