Daily London
A mother has sobbed in a courtroom as a jury returned guilty verdicts for the son of a high-profile man on two counts of rape.
The son, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, slumped in his seat and dropped his head into his hands as the verdicts were delivered shortly after midday today.
He had denied he digitally raped his friend’s girlfriend at his Melbourne home in the early hours of January 14, 2024.
The Victorian County Court jury was told the woman had consensual sex with her boyfriend at the house but then he organised an Uber and left the property shortly before 2am.
The now-convicted rapist then lied, telling the woman her boyfriend would be returning upstairs because his Uber had been cancelled.
It was the offender who went into the dark bedroom a short time later and pretended to be the woman’s boyfriend before digitally raping her twice, the prosecution said.
In the days after, the man doctored an Uber receipt to allegedly make it look like the complainant’s boyfriend had left the house after 2.30am.
The man admitted forging the receipt but said he did so because he panicked after being falsely accused of rape.
Crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams told the jury the man had told a series of lies to try to deflect blame.
He urged the jury to ignore the man’s denials and instead believe the victim, who had given clear, consistent and convincing evidence.
Defence barrister David Hallowes SC argued his client was telling the truth and it was possible the woman’s mind was playing tricks on her.
The 12 jurors retired to begin deliberations at 3pm on Wednesday after hearing seven days of evidence and legal argument.
They returned their guilty verdicts shortly after midday.
The man’s mother sobbed after hearing the jury’s decision, while his girlfriend required medical assistance after feeling faint.
Once the jurors left the room, Judge Gregory Lyon asked Hallowes why he should not remand his client immediately into custody, given the seriousness of the offending.
The defence barrister argued his client was a young man and it would be more appropriate for him to be remanded after sentence.
McWilliams said it was usual practice for a person convicted of rape to immediately go into custody and there was nothing unusual in this case to warrant a different approach.
Judge Lyon agreed, noting the offending was also a serious example of rape given the man’s “conscious and deliberate conduct” afterwards.
The judge gave the man a few minutes to speak to his family before he was led away into custody.
He will return to the County Court next Friday for a pre-sentence hearing.
The maximum sentence for rape is 25 years behind bars.
