NRL player Jack de Belin and his friend Callan Sinclair have been found not guilty of one of six charges relating to the alleged sexual assault of a woman in Wollongong.
The jury has been discharged in relation to the other five counts after they were unable to reach a unanimous or majority verdict.
This is the second time the pair have faced trial.
The matter will be back in court at the end of the month where police prosecutors are likely to decide whether they’ll take the remaining counts to a third trial.
Mr de Belin, who plays for St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL and Shellhabour Sharks player Mr Sinclair were accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in a North Wollongong unit after meeting her in a nightclub in December 2018.
The prosecution alleged the men forced the woman to have sex against her will and that she felt she couldn’t fight back.
In recorded evidence played to the jury, Mr de Belin was asked by the prosecutor if he ever thought the woman wasn’t consenting to the sex that took place in his cousin’s unit.
He replied: “No I did not”.
Mr de Belin said he was in shock when Mr Sinclair told him the next day that the woman was alleging she had been raped.
More to come.
