NRL prospect admits rape

A FORMER NRL prospect and aspiring teacher wept in the court dock as he was sentenced to jail for raping a woman on a Gold Coast beach.

Tom Vickery was out drinking with friends in Coolangatta on March 20, 2021 when he ran into a woman he knew from school at a pub.

Southport District Court was told the now-22-year-old and his victim were heavily intoxicated by the time they left the venue for a nearby beach.

Crown prosecutor Kelli Lemass said the pair started having consensual sex, during which the woman began blacking out and briefly lost consciousness.

She said the woman felt Vickery try to put his penis in her anus and told him not to.

The court was told Vickery’s attempts became increasingly forceful and he soon began anally raping the woman, despite her yelling at him to stop.

Ms Lemass said the woman tried unsuccessfully to escape and began crying from the pain.

Her tears prompted Vickery to stop the assault after about 30 seconds and ask the woman, “Are you crying?”.

The court was told the victim quickly got up and grabbed her bag before running from the beach.

She reported the rape to her friends the next day and later to her doctor and police.

Parts of a text exchange between Vickery and his victim in the hours following the assault were read to the court.

The messages showed the Murwillumbah man apologising to the woman and saying the incident was a “massive, drunk mistake” as he should have stopped straight away.

The court was told there was no evidence Vickery knew the woman lost consciousness or that the initial anal contact was intentional.

Vickery cried quietly at various points during the proceedings, as did several of his friends and family members lining the courtroom gallery.

Defence barrister Bernard Reilly said the support was just one sign the rape was an “aberration” for his highachieving client.

He said Vickery excelled at sport throughout his schooling, and spent eight months training in the Melbourne Storm U20s squad before Covid forced him to return to Queensland.

“In the time leading up to the offence, he’d been in a threeyear relationship with a young lady (which) had broken down some weeks before this,” Mr Reilly said.

“He was drinking with a group he wouldn’t normally drink with … and for him, drank an amount of alcohol he wasn’t used to.

“That’s no excuse for what happened, and he knows it, but it perhaps goes some way to explain how he came to act in a fashion that really is utterly out of character for the industrious, hardworking son that he’s been to his parents.”

Mr Reilly said Vickery would no longer be able to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher.

Judge Deborah Holliday said Vickery’s clean criminal history, strong work ethic, and rehabilitation efforts suggested he was unlikely to reoffend.

She said it was clear from the proceedings that the rape had taken a huge emotional toll on the victim and her family, as well as Vickery’s own.

Vickery pleaded guilty to one count of rape.

He was sentenced to four years’ jail, suspended after nine months in custody.