Content note: This post contains details of sexual violence.
A Brisbane courtroom has erupted at the conviction of three men for the rape of an unconscious teenager with a glass bottle at an Australia Day party.
Family and friends wailed in disbelief as Bailey Hayes-Gordon, Jacob Watson and Nicholas Jackson were found guilty on Friday by a District Court jury of assaulting a 19-year-old friend in 2015.
Their trial had heard the men were heavily intoxicated when Jackson, 19, rolled the teenager over and restrained him by the feet.
Watson, 18, then filmed with his phone as Hayes-Gordon, 18, inserted the bottle.
The video was shared on Snapchat and Facebook, with Hayes-Gordon writing in a chat: “(The complainant) passed out so we stuck a bottle up his arse and he just took it … Funniest thing I’ve ever seen, legit.”
A fourth man, 21-year-old Frazer Eaton, was given a wholly suspended 18-month jail sentence in Februray after he pleaded guilty to holding the young man’s shoulders and spreading his buttocks during the incident.
Eaton testified against the the other men and denied he gave evidence in exchange for a lighter penalty.
After a week-long trial it took the jury only a few hours to find the three men guilty of rape.
Supporters in the public gallery broke down in sobs and cried out, including one woman who shouted: “I’m going to kill myself”.
Another woman called Eaton a “liar”, prompting Judge Anthony Rafter to warn people to remain quiet as the sentencing submissions were handed down.
Hayes-Gordon’s lawyer said it was “extremely unusual” for there to be a rape with no aspect of sexual gratification.
But Judge Rafter said that was cold comfort to the victim who had been penetrated by the bottle.
“It’s still a violation of the victim’s body,” Judge Rafter said.
Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco had argued Hayes-Gordon was the principal offender in the rape but all three men had shown no remorse or co-operation.
The men have been remanded in custody with Judge Rafter expected to hand down the sentences on Friday afternoon.
If you or a loved one has suffered sexual violence, Mamamia urges you to contact 1800 RESPECT.
Top Comments
And yet they got six months. Six months. Typical bullshit sentence from our judicial system.
Also, since when is rape about sex? Rape is about power, pure and simple. These boys just used a bottle rather than one of their own penises.
I agree, six months seems rather kind. Mind you, when was the last time you heard of any sentence and thought, woah, that's too harsh? I'm just hoping this was a once off situation unlikely to ever occur again, but like all cases, hard to tell unless you sit through it all and hear everything.
Yeah, never. Have never heard of a sentence in the Western world that I thought was too harsh, certainly not one for rape. The only time I've heard of one that I thought was a about right was the 55 years or so that that oxygen thief Bilal Skaf got for that series of gang rapes in Sydney in the early 2000s. The rest of his consorts got off lightly though.