Man on bail after guilty verdict in sex assault case

A CAIRNS man is at risk of going to jail after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a Swedish backpacker during a massage.

However, a jury cleared Luke Brandon Sturt Bartlett of similar charges against her friend.

He had met the pair while they were on a tour, run by him in November 2017 and invited them to stay at his Parramatta Park house.

On their last night Bartlett gave one of the girls a massage during which she fell asleep and woke up to him performing a sexual act and touching her inappropriately.

Defence barrister Craig Eberhardt said he would still be submitting that Bartlett honestly believed she had been consenting, but that it was not on reasonable grounds.

“He desisted immediately,” Mr Eberhardt said.

Bartlett had pleaded not guilty in the Cairns District Court to five counts of sexual assault and one count of rape against the two 19-year-old women.

After just over three hours deliberation, following a fourday trial, the jury returned guilty verdicts for the rape and one sexual assault charge in relation to one of the teens.

But he was found not guilty of the remaining sexual assault charges against the other girl. Mr Eberhardt said his client had “basically no criminal history at all” apart from a single minor drug charge.

The court heard that during a phone call with the girls after the incident he had immediately apologised.

“This is a very unusual case,” Mr Eberhardt said as he was requesting bail for his client.

The court also heard that in light of the trial Bartlett was having suicidal thoughts which Mr Eberhardt said lent weight to him remaining on bail.

Bartlett’s sentencing hearing was adjourned until March and he was allowed bail with weekly reporting conditions.