Jury delivers bombshell verdict on the Airbnb bucks night party trio charged with gang rape

WARNING: Graphic details

Three men have been found guilty of gang raping three teenage girls at an Airbnb during a bucks party weekend in Newcastle.

Andrew David, 30, and brothers Maurice Hawell, 30, and Marius Hawell, 22, stood trial after pleading not guilty to counts of aggravated sexual assault in company, attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault in company and aggravated sexual touching.

The trio allegedly gang raped three teenagers at the Newcastle Airbnb that they had rented in February 2022 to celebrate a bucks party for groom-to-be Maurice.

Prosecutors claimed the men sexually assaulted two 18-year-old women on the Friday night before attacking a 19-year-old woman on the following night.

Maurice and Mr David maintained that all sexual activity was consensual, while Marius claimed he did not participate in any of the sexual incidents during the bucks weekend.

All three men faced a weeks-long trial in the NSW District Court over the allegations they were involved in a joint criminal enterprise that sought to engage in group sex with or without consent.

On Monday, the jury of eight men and four women reached verdicts on the majority of the charges.

The jury is still deliberating on a verdict for one charge of sexual touching against Maurice and a charge against all the three men for aggravated sexual assault, which relates to allegations of anal rape.

One of the teens told the court Maurice had tried to sexually touch her while she was lying in bed after consensual sex with another bucks party attendee on the Friday evening.

"I don't, like, want that," she recalled telling the groom-to-be.

The jury were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on this charge and will continue to deliberate.

The 18-year-old and her friend told the court they went into a bedroom to retrieve their phones as they prepared to leave the Airbnb, but they were shoved backwards onto beds.

One of the teens said she was forced to engage in penetrative sex with a man she couldn't see while another man knelt on her arms and thrust his penis into her mouth.

Although the 18-year-old could not see her assailants because the room was dark, prosecution claimed the Hawell brothers and Mr David committed the sexual assaults.

In a conversation with a friend not long after the alleged gang rapes, the court heard the alleged victim characterised the incident as 'an orgy'.

Maurice's lawyer Richard Pontello SC said during the trial the description was "hardly consistent" with the allegations of rape.

The court heard the 18-year-old initially told police she had consented to all the sexual activities that night, but made a sexual assault complaint a year later.

Mr Pontello argued her backflip on her sworn statement "destroys (her) credibility" in regards to consent.

Maurice and Mr David claimed the 18-year-olds agreed to have group sex and gave no indication they were not consenting throughout the acts or afterwards.

Meanwhile Marius argued he didn't participate in the alleged gang rape and wasn't even in the room at the time.

The trio were charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company with others after the prosecution alleged they were involved in a joint criminal enterprise to rape the woman.

The trio were charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company with others after the prosecution alleged they were involved in a joint criminal enterprise to rape the woman.

The jurors found all three men were guilty of gang raping the 18-year-old in the dark bedroom.

At the same time as her friend was allegedly pinned to the bed beside her, the other 18-year-old said she was held down and stripped naked by a 'swarm' of men, the court heard.

She described trying to bat away a man's penis as he tried to put it in her mouth, while another man tried to place her free hand on his penis.

The teen said she was then vaginally and anally raped simultaneously, but she was unable to identify any of the man attacking her because the room was so dark.

The prosecution claimed the Hawell brothers and Mr David were involved and charged them all with attempted aggravated sexual assault in company, aggravated sexual touching, and two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company with others.

Maurice and Mr David maintain the teens were engaged in consensual group sex, while Marius claims he wasn't present or involved.

The jurors ruled the trio were guilty of three of the charges, but could not reach a verdict about the allegations of anal rape.

It was alleged the trio also gang raped a 19-year-old woman inside a dark room of the Airbnb on the Saturday night of the bucks weekend.

The court was told Maurice had approached the teen on the street and persuaded her to come back to the rented Airbnb for pre-drinks but had instead ushered her into a bedroom.

Maurice told the court the teen had agreed to have sex with him before they entered the Airbnb, which Mr Evans slammed as "fanciful" and "not credible".

He said the groom-to-be's assertion was 'totally inconsistent' with CCTV audio and texts from the woman which claimed she'd been 'kidnapped' and called for 'help'.

The defence lawyers argued the texts were hyperbolic and pointed out the teen willingly went with Maurice into the Airbnb.

The 19-year-old said he pushed her onto a bed and they kissed before he asked if she wanted to have a threesome with him and Mr David.

"What? No," she recounted telling him.

Despite her refusal, the teen said Mr David pinned her to the bed by kneeling on her shoulders before he forced his penis into her mouth while Maurice raped her.

She told the court she tried to keep her legs closed but he had forced them open before a third man entered the room.

Mr David's lawyer Sharyn Hall SC argued the teen "did not say no" and acted as if she were consenting during the alleged gang rape, so the teens would not have thought otherwise.

The prosecution alleged Marius entered the room and used his phone's flashlight as the men took turns sexually assaulting the 19-year-old.

The court was told the teen was concerned the third man was filming the alleged gang rape.

Mr Pontello submitted she had been motivated to make the sexual assault complaint out of fear she had been filmed and the video would be published on the internet.

Maurice and Mr David were each charged with four counts of aggravated sexual assault in company with others over the alleged penetrative and oral sexual assaults.

The jury determined the three men were guilty of gang raping the teen.

Marius was also charged over the alleged gang rape, with the prosecution arguing he had encouraged and been complicit in the assault after he entered and provided light.

His lawyer Scott Corrish maintained his client had not been in the room and had not engaged in any sexual activity with the 19-year-old.

"No person has actually pointed the finger and said (Marius) did any criminal sexual act or even said that he was seen with his shoes and socks off," he said.

He was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company with others.

The jury found he was guilty of those charges.

The jurors were ordered to retire to consider whether they could reach unanimous verdicts for the remaining charges.