By Sarah McPhee and Nick Newling
Warning: Graphic content
A woman has told a jury of the moments before her alleged rape by a man in a hotel room at Sydney’s The Star casino, claiming she was slammed to the floor and realised “he was going to be quite dangerous”.
“All I remember is being pinned down to the ground and strangled,” the now 21-year-old woman said on Wednesday at the trial of Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt in Downing Centre District Court.
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt outside court on Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty to choking and sexual assault.Credit: AAPIMAGE
Fitzpatrick Burtt, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges against the same woman across three separate occasions including allegations of choking and sexual intercourse without consent.
Prosecutors allege the woman was raped inside The Star Grand Hotel one night in 2022 after spending the afternoon on a Darling Harbour cruise with a group of people, including the accused who she said she did not know would be there.
In her evidence via video link on Wednesday, she said she had three drinks on the boat and did two “bumps” of cocaine, and Fitzpatrick Burtt had tried to grab her arm and kiss her which she “didn’t want to do”.
The complainant said the accused “definitely wasn’t sober”, was acting “very obnoxious and loud” and told her he was taking some MDMA.
She said he made comments towards her including that her “tits have gotten small” and told her if she would not give him a chance “he was going to kill me and my next boyfriend”.
The woman said she later saw him at a nearby pub. She said she needed to retrieve some items from the hotel, and left the pub with a male friend who had booked the room and was also known to the accused. She said Fitzpatrick Burtt joined them, but she added, “I don’t know why he was coming back” to the hotel.
Inside the room, after the male friend had left, the woman claims the accused put one hand on her mouth and the other hand on her neck and “slammed” her down between two beds.
“I couldn’t scream or anything,” she said. “I just remember trying to scream and sort of realising he was at a point where he was going to be quite dangerous.”
After giving evidence that she had then tried to kick the accused off, the woman broke down in tears, wiping her eyes with tissues, before the trial was adjourned for the day.
She also testified about two earlier alleged incidents with the accused. During the first, in Sydney’s south, she claimed he pulled her hair as he forced her into a car to drive him to a family friend’s house following an altercation with other people that day.
She said as they argued while she drove, he grabbed her shoulders and headbutted her, leaving her ears ringing.
“I just started crying and kind of freaking out … I started doing what he wanted me to do,” she said.
The complainant claimed that once alone together inside the home he then pushed her onto a bed with one hand around her neck and the other over her mouth.
“I couldn’t breathe, I felt scared,” she said.
On the second occasion, in Byron Bay where Fitzpatrick Burtt lived, the complainant said he got “frustrated” that she was on her phone, told her to “shut the f--- up” and squeezed her neck for 20 or 30 seconds. The jury was shown photographs of a bruise under her eye which she said she had noticed the following day.
The defence disputes the alleged choking and headbutting assaults and argues some of the sexual acts during the third incident did not happen.
Barrister Peter Skinner said Fitzpatrick Burtt admits he had sex with the woman in the hotel room, although it was a “very big issue that it was non-consensual”.
The accused has also admitted he punched the woman in the hotel room, but claims it was because of an argument they had after sex. He denies he kicked her as alleged by prosecutors.
The trial continues.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.