Inside Jack de Belin’s frantic phone calls after he was accused of raping a woman after a Christmas pub crawl – as a detective is grilled about accessing private messages on the footy star’s mobile
- Belin and Sinclair pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated sexual assault
- Men told each other all they need to do is ‘tell the truth’ after alleged 2018 rape
- Phone call reveals Belin said ‘it’s not like we’re trying to get our stories straight’
- Told Sinclair ‘best case scenario they realise she’s lying’ and there’ll be no case
The head detective investigating Jack de Belin’s rape allegations has been grilled for the second day in court by the footballer’s lawyer for accessing privileged information.
Callan Sinclair, 23, and de Belin, 30, have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of aggravated sexual assault that allegedly took place at a North Wollongong unit in December 2018.
In the first trial of the two men that could not be concluded Detective Senior Constable Shawn Adams admitted lying under oath about looking through a privileged file on de Belin’s phone.
NRL player Jack de Belin (pictured) is facing a retrial over allegations he and Callan Sinclair raped a teenager in 2018
The officer had taken the Dragons NRL player’s mobile for examination and accessed a record that contained messages with his lawyer preparing for his upcoming trial.
‘You well knew it was forbidden fruits,’ de Belin’s lawyer David Campbell SC said on Tuesday.
‘That it was material you were not entitled to access.’
‘Yes,’ Mr Adams said.
Mr Adams had said he believed the information related to ‘Dragons business’ but later admitted this was a lie.
Callan Sinclair, 23, (pictured) and de Belin, 30, have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of aggravated sexual assault that allegedly took place at a North Wollongong unit in December 2018
‘When you gave that evidence you knew it was false,’ Mr Campbell said.
‘Yes.’
He denied discussing this information with the complainant.
The jury also heard phone intercept calls between the St George Illawarra forward and Sinclair relaying their disbelief at the accusations.
Sinclair tells his mother the woman was ‘hanging around like a bad smell,’ at Mr Crown bar in Wollongong and laughing and joking around after the group sex.
‘If you were just raped by someone you wouldn’t go back out with them would ya,’ he can be heard saying.
The woman who was 19 at the time earlier testified she believed the trio were headed to nearby Fever Nightclub but instead travelled together in a tuk-tuk to de Belin’s cousin’s unit.
In a phone call both Sinclair (pictured) and Belin tell each other all they need to do is ‘tell the truth’ while de Belin adds ‘it’s not like we’re trying to get our stories straight’
She described going dead inside during the non-consensual sexual encounter where she was crying and repeating ‘stop’ multiple times but was ignored as de Belin cheered his friend on.
‘The only time at the end of it she got a bit weird and said ‘you’ve got a girlfriend’,’ de Belin tells his sister.
In another phone call, both men tell each other all they need to do is ‘tell the truth’ while de Belin adds ‘it’s not like we’re trying to get our stories straight’.
‘Best case scenario they realise she is lying and doesn’t have much of a case,’ de Belin says.
The trial continues.
During a phone call Belin told Sinclair that ‘best case scenario they realise she is lying and doesn’t have much of a case’ regarding accusations that he and Callan Sinclair raped a teenager in 2018
