By Clare Sibthorpe and Sarah McPhee
Three men who gang raped three women during a buck’s weekend have been jailed for nine to 14 years for what a judge described as “callous”, “degrading and heinous” crimes.
Then groom-to-be Maurice Hawell, 30, his brother Marius Hawell, 23, and friend Andrew David, 30, were found guilty in July of attacking the women at an Airbnb in Newcastle West during his buck’s weekend in February 2022.
Maurice Hawell has been jailed for 14 years for the gang rape of three women on his buck’s weekend.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Sentencing the trio in Downing Centre District Court on Friday, Judge Gina O’Rourke said one of the more disturbing and confronting parts about the “very serious, degrading and heinous” assaults were that the offenders were not monsters or inherently evil.
“[This] would have perhaps in some way explained, but of course, never justified, this serious bout of criminal behaviour,” she said.
“But, rather, they are three highly educated, intelligent, successful, professional young men who all come from loving Christian families, who treat their own sisters, mothers and female partners with respect and love, and yet, on this weekend, were capable, in a pack mentality, of treating three young women in this cold, callous, degrading and criminal way.”
The ‘buck’
Maurice Hawell, who was a solicitor working at a planning and environment law firm, was convicted of 10 charges, including eight counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.
He was sentenced to 14 years in jail with a non-parole period of eight years and six months.
In a letter to the court, Hawell’s wife said she was “still in a state of complete and utter shock” since the police knocked on their door in 2022.
She said she had been “heartbroken” when she discovered her husband’s “infidelity” on his buck’s weekend, but she “never, not for a single moment, believed he could be capable of the monstrous acts described in those [charge] papers”.
O’Rourke said Maurice Hawell was involved in bringing each of the victims into the apartment where they were sexually assaulted by him and the other participants in the joint criminal enterprise and used two false names, Joseph and Jonathan, with the victims.
“This implies … a level of planning and ongoing course of conduct by him,” she said.
“I do find, beyond reasonable doubt, that he played a more significant role than the other two co-offenders overall.”
The friend
Andrew David was convicted of nine charges and was jailed for 13 years with a non-parole period of seven years and nine months.
O’Rourke said David’s role, while instrumental, was “slightly more opportunistic” and slightly less significant than that of Maurice Hawell.
Andrew David outside court before he was found guilty and taken into custody.Credit: Dean Sewell
The brother
Marius Hawell was convicted of seven offences and was jailed for nine years with a non-parole period of five years and five months.
O’Rourke said she was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Marius Hawell actually physically penetrated any of the victims, and therefore played a lesser role than the other two co-offenders.
The Crown at trial alleged Marius Hawell entered the room on the Saturday night, stood next to the bed offering “encouragement” and used his phone to illuminate the acts.
Marius Hawell attended the buck’s weekend for his older brother Maurice.Credit: Rhett Wyman
The victims
In victim impact statements, two of the three victims said what happened to them was “traumatic”.
“After this night occurred, I was unable to trust any man around me,” one of the women from the Friday night attack said.
The victim from the Saturday night attack said she was left feeling “terrified to face the world”.
O’Rourke said each victim impact statement was “an articulate and poignant expression of the pain, the shame and the anguish that the victims endured and continue to endure as a result of this offending”.
“The victims of sexual offences suffer and may struggle with the consequences for many years.”
The court heard the trio did not have prior criminal records.
Maurice Hawell and David argued they engaged in consensual sexual acts, while Marius Hawell claimed he did not take part in any sexual acts over the weekend.
O’Rourke said they had “all reflected and feel regret, guilt and remorse for the family and friends that they have caused pain to, but there is no evidence from the offenders, David and Marius Hawell, of genuine remorse for the victims and their own offending”, she said.
“Maurice Hawell did express some sympathy for the victims having to endure a six-week jury trial, though still maintained his innocence.”
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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