Written by There are countless reports in the media of sexual assault cases involving famous people, certainly sports stars feature largely among them. Whether or not they are guilty is beyond the scope of this article, but one might pose the question … why, if the accusations aren’t true, are they such targets for them?
Today the jury of the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney, New South Wales, heard the details of an alleged sexual assault that took place in the early hours of December 9, 2018 after a night out in a Wollongong nightclub. The court were told details of a complaint of forced vaginal, oral and anal sex on a woman, then aged 19, in a unit after her meeting the accused, Mr de Belin, 30, and Mr Sinclair, 23 on the dancefloor. One of the accused, Jack de Belin, is also an NRL (National Rugby League) star.
The footballer’s barrister David Campbell SC told the jury in his three-hour closing address that the story could not be accepted and tabled in detail the “not less than 19 falsehoods” in her story, adeptly pulling apart her account of the evening’s incident, declaring that she likely thought better of her decision:
“’Perhaps she regretted it afterwards … sometimes it’s easy to convince yourself that you really didn’t want to do those things in the first place.’
Mr Campbell said the jury had to weigh the evidence of a woman who had demonstrated ‘inconsistencies and blatant untruths’ in her story and the ‘good character of these two young boys’.”
Regardless of your opinion on this matter, (including whether these ‘men’ should seriously be considered ‘young boys’) does the repeated occurrence of such events suggest that there is the kind of culture existing in sporting organizations that supports careless indiscretions like this. Even consensual encounters can leave sporting stars vulnerable to accusations if they are not discrete and discerning in their chosen behavior.
Like it or not, the sports stars’ fame puts them on a pedestal where they are open to scrutiny, it could be said to ‘come with the territory’. Certainly, there is reason to believe that some opportunistic people find a perverse pleasure in gaining fame, or financial reward perhaps, through the denigration of the famous, and definitely it could be said that this has happened on occasion.
That said, a code of conduct regarding public behavior should be imbedded in the culture of the sporting organization that guides the players and safeguards them from these sort of situations. Apart from their own protection, the importance of engendering respectful attitudes towards women and their rights is important instruction to be reinforced as well.
The jury in this case is expected to be sent out to deliberate on a verdict on Monday morning, when Judge Nicole Noman completes her summing up of all the evidence. Given the strength of the accused’s arguments it’s perhaps likely that a ‘not-guilty’ verdict will result … but we will see!
Jack de Belin: NRL star’s jury told woman’s story ‘doesn’t make sense’ (news.com.au)
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