A well-connected Melbourne businessman has been found guilty of rape and has been taken into custody.
A County Court jury delivered the verdicts today, finding beyond reasonable doubt that the man raped and sexually assaulted a woman at his home on March 23, 2023.
The man now faces the prospect of years in jail and will be sentenced at a later date.
Because of an ongoing suppression order, the ABC is unable to name the man or disclose information about the industries he works in or is connected to.
The County Court has also banned media outlets from running a pixelated photo of the man.
Lawyers for media outlets, including the ABC, are set to argue for the gag order to be lifted later today, at a hearing before Judge Frank Gucciardo.
The rape trial centred on events at the man’s house, following a night where he and the complainant had been drinking alcohol and, according to the prosecution, taking cocaine.
Prosecutors alleged that he sexually assaulted the woman in his bedroom, with the attack coming to a halt when she punched him in the face.
He was alleged to have told her, “You’re so sexy” and “I can’t stop”.
The man denied the allegations, and also refuted claims that he made numerous unwanted sexual advances towards the woman in the months leading up to the night in question.
With no eyewitnesses, lawyers for the prosecution and defence agreed the case hinged on the credibility of the complainant.
The woman, who is several decades younger than the businessman, spent days in the witness box giving evidence during the trial.
Defence barrister Dermot Dann KC called the woman’s version of events “fiction”, but prosecutor Matthew Fisher told the jury she was a credible witness who had not changed her story throughout the legal process.
On Monday, jurors had asked the judge what would occur if they were unable to reach verdicts.
After they were instructed to continue deliberations, the panel of 12 returned today to announce its unanimous decision on two charges of rape and one charge of sexual assault.
In a heart-stopping moment, the jury foreperson misspoke while delivering the verdict, before confirming the man was guilty of the charges.
Today’s verdict is likely to throw the man’s business into turmoil, and will have a knock-on effect for high-profile people he is connected to.
A suppression order was first granted in the case in 2023, after the man had been charged by police.
His lawyers told the Magistrates’ Court his mental health would be placed at risk if he was named in the media.
Later, the County Court modified the suppression, ordering that it should lift upon verdict.