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Manly's Brett Stewart - Source: Photosport -
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Manly rugby league star Brett Stewart will face a jury trial
over claims he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl after the
Sydney club's 2009 season launch party.
Deputy chief magistrate Paul Cloran ordered the 24-year-old
fullback to stand trial in the NSW District Court, where the case
will be mentioned on April 9.
Stewart, who appeared on crutches in Sydney's Downing Centre Local
Court on Monday, told the magistrate: "I have nothing to say and
reserve my defence."
Earlier, the girl's father told the magistrate on the day of the
alleged offence the drunk footballer repeatedly told him, "I didn't
touch her, bro ... I wouldn't do that, bro", as well as saying,
"You know who I am."
Describing Stewart as "volatile", the father said some of the
footballer's comments - including "I will kill your husband" - did
not make sense.
Under cross-examination from Stewart's barrister, Clive Steirn,
SC, the father admitted having served time in jail for fraud, but
said, "That is who I was, not how I am now."
Stewart is charged with having sexual intercourse involving
digital penetration with the girl without her consent on the
evening of March 6, 2009, at North Manly in Sydney's northern
beaches.
He also is accused of assault with an act of indecency, namely
that he "forced his tongue into her mouth".
The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his
daughter had been outside smoking when she ran into the kitchen of
their home upset and shaking.
At first she could not get the words out but then told the father
a man had touched her, putting his finger in her vagina, and that
he was nearby and wearing a suit.
The father said he went outside and saw a man standing under a
tree, and when he asked his daughter, "Is that him?" she replied,
"Please dad, please dad."
The man called out, "I didn't touch her, bro," and repeatedly
denied the claim when the father put it to him.
"He grabbed the front of my shirt, I could see he was drunk," the
father said.
He said he elbowed the footballer out of the way and called out to
neighbours to ring the police.
"I was just keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn't belt me
before the police arrived," he said.
The man also said, "You know who I am."
But the father told the court he did not follow
football.
He said the man took him to a residence, saying he lived there,
and the door opened and a woman came out and asked what was going
on.
"She says: `Not again,' and she has pointed to his trousers," the
father said.
The father said he looked down and saw Stewart's belt was undone,
his fly was open and "you could see the top of skin".
The father said Stewart then said: "You have upset my girl,
bro."
Steirn suggested he was telling "a pack of lies".
But the girl's father denied this, saying "I am not here to
lie".
"You are not a stranger to the courts?," Steirn asked, and
the witness replied, "No."
The father agreed he had pleaded guilty to offences including
making false statements and fraud, had served a minimum four-year
jail term and periodic detention.
But he said "that was in the past, not today", telling Steirn,
"That does not excuse what your client did to my
daughter."
