Woman ‘shocked and surprised’ when rugby star Beale allegedly grabbed her bottom
A woman allegedly sexually assaulted by rugby union star Kurtley Beale says she was “shocked and surprised” when he grabbed her bottom at a Bondi pub.
Kurtley Beale arrives at the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney,. (AAP Image/Max Mason-Hubers)
Beale, 35, is facing a NSW District Court trial charged with one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching related to an alleged assault on a woman at the Beach Road Hotel in December 2022.
The former Wallabies playmaker has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Monday, the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was at the venue with a group of friends, her fiance and Beale when the touching occurred.
She had not previously met the rugby player, she said.
The woman, who was wearing underpants under a long-sleeve navy pant suit at the time, told the jury she felt a hand move down her buttocks onto “bare skin”.
“Someone grabbed my bum,” she said.
“I turn around and realise it’s Mr Beale.”
The woman, who became emotional recalling the alleged incident, said the touch lasted about a second-and-a-half and that she used the palm of her left hand to “swat” away Beale’s hand.
“He pulled his hand away when I said ‘stop’,” she said.
“I was shocked, I was surprised.”
Before the alleged touching, the woman said she observed Beale to be “heavily intoxicated” and at one point she asked him: “Are you on cocaine?”
Prior to meeting Beale, the woman said she had known of him through rugby and had followed him on social media.
“Do you follow him on Instagram?” crown prosecutor Jeff Tunks asked.
“I did,” the complainant replied.
The woman arrived at the pub after leaving a restaurant at lunch “tipsy” then going to a friend’s house, where she drank more alcohol and snorted two lines of cocaine, the court heard.
Mr Tunks previously told the trial he expects the complainant to allege Beale grabbed the back of her head and placed his penis in her mouth inside a cubicle in the men’s bathroom at the pub.
Beale’s barrister Margaret Cunneen SC has told the jury there was no force involved and the defence case was that the complainant consented.
Ms Cunneen has urged the jury to consider the woman’s honesty and reliability when she gives evidence.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
