Saw top half of Chris’ penis, masseuse tells court
SYDNEY: Masseuse Leanne Russell has told a Sydney court it was a “horrific” experience and she cried uncontrollably after West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle pulled his towel up to expose his penis. “I saw the top half of his penis, I apologise,” Russell said. “Thereafter I shielded my eyes.”
Russell said she ran up to the stand, where she sat for 2-1/2 hours and cried because the day before another player, Dwayne Smith, had sent her a text saying “sexy”. “I was very upset that a team that I had known for so long would treat me that way.”
Russell is the star witness in the defamation case against Fairfax Media by the international cricketer. Gayle has attended each day and was in court with his legal team to watch Russell’s emotional tes- timony before a packed court.
Russell said the exposure of his penis came after she walked into the dressing room to get some lunch at Drummoyne Oval in 2015 when she was the team masseuse.
“Chris asked me what I was looking for,” she said. “I said, ‘A towel’. And he said, ‘Are you looking for this?’ I saw the top half of Chris’s penis and I shielded my eyes and left the room. I said ‘No’ and I walked out.” Russell indicated to the jury that she lifted her hand up to shield her eyes. “I hadn’t eaten that day and the catering was in the change room.”
Russell explained she told Gayle she was looking for a towel and not food because she did not want to discuss food. “I have a history of eating disorders,” she said. “I rarely discuss food.”
Russell said she went up to the stand and she cried. “I was crying like a child.”
V SUNDARAM, Ex-pitch panel head