By Sarah McPhee and Nick Newling
A woman allegedly raped inside a hotel room at The Star casino in Sydney has denied under cross-examination that she only had eyes for the accused that night, that she initiated the sexual activity or that it was consensual.
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges relating to three incidents against the same woman, including multiple counts of sexual intercourse without consent on a night in Pyrmont in 2022.
Joel Fitzpatrick Burtt outside court on Monday.Credit: Kate Geraghty
The woman alleges she was punched, headbutted, kicked and sexually assaulted inside a room of The Star Grand Hotel, booked by other people they knew, after a Darling Harbour group cruise and drinks at a pub.
Asked on Monday by defence barrister Peter Skinner whether she had “eyes only for Joel on the cruise”, the complainant replied, “I don’t agree with that at all”.
She accepted she had danced with him, sat on his lap and called him over for a drink once or twice. She agreed that while with the group at the hotel he patted her head and put his arm around her.
“I’m not doing this to him, he was doing this to me,” she said.
The court has heard the woman was denied entry to the casino because she did not have her ID. The jury has viewed CCTV of the complainant and the accused walking away from The Star, including of them holding hands.
“I got refused entry, he’s come with me,” she said. “I remember everyone else meeting us at the Harlequin Inn.”
She recalled Fitzpatrick Burtt being “quite obnoxious” towards her at the pub and said she returned to the hotel to collect some items before another party.
Asked why she went back to the room with the accused and their male acquaintance, she replied, “I don’t know”.
“It seems throughout a lot of the night, he [Fitzpatrick Burtt] wanted to be near me,” she said.
Skinner asked: “Did you want to be near him?”
“Not necessarily, no,” the complainant replied.
Asked why she did not ask the accused to leave the hotel room when their male acquaintance left, she said: “I didn’t really have an option … he was arguing with me.”
The woman alleges she was punched, headbutted, kicked and sexually assaulted inside a room of The Star Grand Hotel.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
“He immediately got aggravated and forced me to stay in there,” she said.
When asked whether she took off her shoes, lay down on the bed and was joined by the accused, the complainant said she could not remember.
She denied she had “initiated physical contact” by “wrapping” her arm around Fitzpatrick Burtt, and did not remember a conversation involving him asking, “Can we have sex?” and her replying, “Not yet”.
Asked if she had “started kissing” the accused, the complainant said: “I can’t remember. I’ve said that I can’t remember what happened until the point of being strangled.”
The defence argued the woman assisted the accused in undressing her, and during alleged intercourse made “noises” and actions that “made it quite plain to him that it was consensual sex”. The complainant disagreed.
Skinner said: “I suggest to you that throughout the entire experience … you displayed no signs of discomfort, anxiety or worry.”
“Not true,” the complainant replied.
Fitzpatrick Burtt admits he punched the woman in the face, but claims this was during an argument after sex.
Skinner claimed his client had called the woman a “stupid slut”, that this upset the complainant, and that she began striking the accused “around the face and head” before he retaliated.
The woman said she remembered some comments being made, but not exactly what was said, and did not recall striking the accused.
The complainant previously told the court she was taken to hospital that night and had her injuries examined, but there was a wait for the sexual assault examination, and she did not want to stay. She said she went back to hospital the following day for the procedure.
The woman agreed she was told to preserve her clothing and underwear, and said she did. She agreed she was also told to preserve places on her body for forensic testing, but said she had a shower.
“Did you not think that that was going to damage, possibly, some tests that could be made of you?” Skinner asked.
“To be honest, no, I probably wasn’t thinking of that very well,” the complainant replied.
The trial continues before Chief Judge Sarah Huggett.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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