Two men jailed for gang raping three teenagers during a bucks party weekend will face a retrial and a third has been acquitted after winning appeals against their convictions.
Maurice Hawell, 31, his younger brother Marius, 24, and Andrew David, 31, were all found guilty of sexually assaulting three women in 2024 after a joint trial lasting almost four weeks.
All three men appealed against their convictions, arguing the trial judge had made a number of errors in her directions to the jury and the verdicts were unreasonable.
The appeal was upheld by the court of criminal appeal on Monday, with the panel of judges quashing the convictions for all three.
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Justice Belinda Rigg ordered Maurice Hawell and David face a retrial in the New South Wales district court.
The convictions against Marius Hawell were dismissed and verdicts of acquittal entered in their place.
Maurice Hawell had been jailed for 14 years, David for 13 years and Marius nine years.
During the appeal in August, the men’s lawyers claimed the jury may have been led to misinterpret the trio’s state of mind over the weekend of offending.
Tim Game SC said the evidence may have been misconstrued as a “shared job” or a “job for the lot” when considered all together for each man, leading to an unreasonable verdict.
“It has a sinister element because it turns consensual sex into the threat of non-consensual sex and there’s absolutely nothing to support that proposition,” David’s barrister said.
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David and Maurice Hawell will return to the NSW district court on 12 December.
Maurice’s younger brother can be immediately released from prison.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html