Alleged victim is grilled on consent

THE woman who accused NRL star Jack de Belin and his friend Callan Sinclair of raping her has denied she thought she was going to an apartment for consensual sex that night, saying she still struggles to sleep.

The woman, who was 19 at the time, is in her third day of questioning at the District Court trial of former Origin star de Belin, 29, and Shellharbour Sharks player Sinclair, 23. Both men have pleaded not guilty to five counts of aggravated sexual assault.

The woman has given detailed evidence of how the men allegedly raped her repeatedly in a North Wollongong apartment in December 2018.

The woman said the “nitty gritty” of what happened before she entered the unit was hard to remember.

“I am human, not a robot,” the woman said.

Defence barrister David Campbell also claimed the woman knew she was going to the apartment with de Belin and Sinclair when she hopped in a bike-taxi with them that night, rather than going to Fever nightclub.

“You were on a journey to engage in some consensual activity with these two men,” Mr Campbell said. “No I wasn’t,” the woman responded.

Mr Campbell said a police statement taken from the woman three days before the start of this week’s trial stated she had messaged a friend about smoking marijuana to deal with the trauma of the alleged abuse that night.

He told the court the message was actually sent shortly after 1am, before the alleged abuse took place.

The woman said: “I thought I sent that message after 2am in the morning, I didn’t know I sent it earlier.”

Lawyers for both men said they accepted sex took place that night and both maintain it was consensual. The trial continues.