Footballers accused of rape thought they 'could be on' for group sex

A jury has been told two country New South Wales footballers believed they "could be on" for group sex on the night they allegedly raped a woman.

Warning: this story includes details of alleged acts some readers may find distressing.

Scone Thoroughbreds rugby league players Hayden Charles Topliss, 37, and Ryan Matthew Hawkshaw, 27, are on trial in the Newcastle District Court, facing four counts of aggravated sexual intercourse in company.

The alleged offences happened in a spare bedroom at Mr Topliss's house in Scone in 2023.

The woman said she knew of Mr Hawkshaw as "a footy boy" before meeting him, and had heard of his teammate Mr Topliss.

Today, Mr Topliss told the jury he spoke to Mr Hawkshaw earlier on the night of the alleged rape about the woman.

"He [Mr Hawkshaw] said, 'I think we might be on here', that she could come inside and have a threesome,"

Mr Topliss said.

"We spoke at the RSL and he said she might be keen."

The woman spent two days on the witness stand last week, telling the jury she repeatedly said "no" and "stop" and did not agree to group sex.

The night

In his evidence on Friday, Mr Hawkshaw told jurors the woman followed him into the bedroom.

"I said to her, 'Come on I will show you something,'" Mr Hawkshaw said.

The Crown alleges the woman had consensual sex with Mr Hawkshaw before he called for Mr Topliss to come in.

Mr Hawkshaw said he asked the woman if she wanted to have group sex.

"I brought it up, it was a suggestion to which she agreed,"

he said.

The woman told jurors in her testimony last week that she did not agree, but despite this she said Mr Topliss came in and forced her down.

Crown prosecutor Charisse Hodgeman said in her opening address that the woman confided in a relative the next day.

"She told [the relative] she 'felt like she had been raped',"

Ms Hodgeman said.

The phone call

On Monday, Mr Topliss told the jury he never forced her down and never sexually assaulted the woman.

"I thought she was there to have sex," Mr Topliss said.

Mr Topliss told the court he was in the kitchen of his house when Mr Hackshaw phoned him from the bedroom and "said to come inside".

The woman alleges she was jointly raped by the men multiple times, held, repositioned and had her hair pulled.

Both men deny those claims.

Mr Topliss told the court the entire time he was in the bedroom he could not get an erection and no sexual assault occurred.

"She was enjoying being there, she wasn't uncomfortable," he said.

In her closing address, Ms Hodgeman said the woman was reliable and unshaken when questioned about her evidence.

"She should impress you as a witness of truth and the Crown says she gave detailed evidence, and did not exaggerate," she said.

Defence barristers for the men said jurors needed to assess the woman's reliability and alleged version of events.

Mr Topliss has also pleaded not guilty to a fifth charge of sexually assaulting the woman on the same night, and a sixth charge of sexual touching the complainant in 2024.