Content warning: sexual assault
Jean Claude Perrottet, the brother of NSW Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations Dominic Perrottet, spoke softly as he delivered his version of what happened on the night of October 17, 2015 to the court.
“I put up my hand to help her to her knees … and we began kissing,” he said.
“Was that mutual?” asked defence barrister, Alissa Moen.
“Yes, it was.”
It is alleged that Perrottet, now aged 20, had non-consensual digital, oral and penile-vaginal sex with a 19-year-old woman on University of Sydney grounds following a St John’s College formal almost two years ago.
He has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault, alleging that the first two incidents were consensual and that the penile-vaginal sex never happened.
The victim, who cannot be identified, told police on the night of the alleged attack, “I just remember being on the ground and lying there and saying, ‘stop it, get off me.’”
“I kept telling him to stop.”
The court was told that following his arrest, Perrottet phoned one of his brothers and was overheard stating, “It was just second base, there was a bit of hand work.”
He told officers, “There’s no way I had sex, I hadn’t had sex, it’s against my religion.”
Referring to the alleged penile-vaginal sex, when asked whether that statement to police was true, Perrottet told the court, “Yes … I believe it should wait until marriage.”
The defence outlined a number of text and instant messages sent between Perrottet and his friends in the days following the alleged assault.
One message sent by Perrottet on October 19 read, “Yeah fuck man, I can’t get that drunk, when I get that drunk my morals leave.”
In 2016, Honi was the first publication to reveal the identity of Perrottet, who, at the time of the alleged assault, was a student at the University of New South Wales and had attended the St John’s College formal as a guest.
His brother, Dominic Perrottet, was elected the Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal Party in January 2017.
The trial will resume next week.
