Newcastle bucks weekend gang rape trial: Court hears cruel jibe as friends mocked groom who had sex with 'less attractive girl'

A groom on his bucks weekend was mocked by his friends for having sex with 'the less attractive' of two teenagers who say they were ganged raped by members of the group, a court has heard.

Maurice Howell was 27, his brother 20 and David 28 when they travelled from Sydney to Newcastle in February 2022 with six other men ahead of the older Hawell's wedding.

Three women, Miss A, Miss B, and Miss C, have told a jury they were sexually assaulted at an Airbnb rented by the group but they could not identify which men were allegedly responsible.

Miss A and Miss B, both then 18, said they were raped together in the apartment on the Friday night while 19-year-old Miss C said she was abused the next evening.

Maurice Hawell and David claim any sex they had with the women was consensual and deny performing certain acts, while Marius Hawell insists he did not take part in any sexual activity at all.

The three men are facing trial together in Downing Centre District Court on the basis they engaged in a joint criminal enterprise.

The court has heard their friend 'Matt' had consensual sex with Miss A on the Friday in one bedroom while Miss B had consensual sex with Maurice Hawell and David in another.

Matt is not accused of having committed any wrongdoing at any time.

He told the court that while having sex with Miss A, Maurice Hawell entered the room and said, 'Hey guys, do you want to have a threesome? [Miss B] is keen too'.

Matt said he deferred to Miss A by saying, 'It's up to you' and she said the same thing to him.

He denied Maurice Hawell had reached down to touch Miss A's upper thigh before being asked to leave the bedroom.

Matt also denied telling Maurice Hawell during a conversation outside the bedroom door, '[Miss A] is happy to have a foursome with us if [Miss B] also joins us'.

Miss A and Miss B have given evidence they were later raped by a number of men in the room where Miss A and Matt had consensual intercourse.

Matt told the jury on Tuesday he had seen Miss A, Miss B, Maurice Hawell and David in the bedroom, 'kissing and having sex' with the light on.

He said he had gone to the room because he heard Miss A call out, 'Where's Matt?'. He told her, 'Hey, I'm here, are you OK?' and she responded, 'I'm OK'.

Miss A has given evidence she repeatedly called out 'Where's Matt' and multiple male voices replied 'I'm Matt'.

Under cross-examination, Matt said he believed Miss A had enjoyed having group sex with his friends. 'It appeared so,' he said. 'She seemed to be really enjoying it.'

Asked if he formed the same view of Miss B, he said, 'Yeah, her too, but I was in there very briefly'.

Matt said it was possible he had heard Miss B ask, 'Is someone going to f*** me?'

Matt told the court that once the group sex was finished he walked with Miss A and Miss B to the nearby Cambridge Hotel where they had all met earlier in the evening.

'We were speaking, we were kissing, dancing a little bit,' he said of his interactions with Miss A.

Matt said sometime after he had left the pub for the night he received a call from Miss A.

'She called me after two o'clock, I can't remember the time, from her friend's phone,' he told the court.

'She said, "Can we come back to the room and stay there?" and I said, "Yeah, if you guys want".'

Matt said the women decided they would not come back to the apartment after he told them he could not drive them home the next morning.

Miss A had sent him a message about 4am which he answered some hours later when he woke up. 'Did you get home all good?' he wrote.

Matt said when the bucks group went to breakfast that day some of them were laughing at Maurice Hawell 'because he got with the less attractive girl'.

Maurice Hawell and David are charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one count each of aggravated sexually touching another person and attempted aggravated sexual assault in company.

Marius Hawell is charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and one count each of aggravated sexually touching another person and attempted aggravated sexual assault in company.

The trial, before Judge Gina O'Rourke, continues.