Wallabies star Kurtley Beale told a woman he allegedly assaulted in a Bondi bar bathroom that he “wanted to prevent things moving forward” in a recorded call, a court has been told.
Mr Beale, 35, is facing a jury trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre Court after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching.
Police allege Mr Beale groped a woman’s bottom at the Beach Road bar in Bondi on December 17, 2022, before forcing her into oral sex in a stall in the men’s bathroom.
A phone call from the 28-year-old woman to Mr Beale almost a month later, arranged and recorded by police, was played before the court on Tuesday.
In the call, the woman accused Mr Beale of the alleged assault, stating: “You got your d**k out and you grabbed my head and you put your d**k in my mouth”.
Mr Beale, who initially said he remembered seeing the woman “only briefly”, agreed they “hooked up” in the bathroom but said the accusations were “not on”.
Asked if he remembered the woman saying “no, I don’t want to”, Mr Beale said he was “coming around to it now” and had “misjudged the whole scenario”.
“Maybe its my f**king blurred vision and just kind of nonunderstanding … Maybe I just didn’t read it properly and honestly just f**king misjudged the whole scenario and situation,” he said.
Later in the call, Mr Beale said: “(I) totally misjudged it and that’s my f**k-up I have to live with. I shouldn’t be making those decisions and assuming sh*t like that.”
He went on to add “my missus has f**king heard everything” and the “cloud” of his actions was “hanging over my head, everything is probably going to turn upside down now”.
Mr Beale apologised repeatedly during the call, stating he was embarrassed and “kind of scared” and asked if the woman intended to “take things further”.
“Would you tell me if you were going to do anything further?” he asked. “I know you’re still processing but moving forward … I don’t know.
“I just kind of want to prevent things moving forward, but (instead) dealing with them in a civil way that’s kind of protecting both of us.”
During the call, the woman further accused Mr Beale of “grabbing my arse and stuff”, telling him: “I know you’re meant to be a role model.”
Later in the call, she said: “It takes away a part of you. I can’t tell you how sh*t it feels … You’ve taken away a part that wasn’t yours to take.”
In her opening submissions, Mr Beale’s lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC told the jury that the bathroom act was “entirely consensual” and there was no criminal touching.
The jury was previously told on Monday the woman’s account of the night as well as text messages she sent the day after the alleged incident to her sister and fiance.
They were also shown CCTV footage from inside the bar on the night of the alleged assault, including the alleged victim following Mr Beale into the bathroom.
The video captured the about 4½ minutes the pair spent inside the men’s bathroom, during which police allege Mr Beale forced the woman into oral sex.
Evidence is set to continue on Tuesday.
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