Three men have been jailed for the ‘degrading and heinous’ gang rape of three ‘terrified’ teenagers in an Airbnb apartment during a bucks party weekend in Newcastle.
Maurice Hawell, 30, Andrew David, 30, and Marius Hawell, 23, were sentenced on Friday over the attacks committed in February 2022 ahead of the older Hawell brother’s wedding.
Judge Gina O’Rourke imprisoned Maurice Hawell for 14 years with a minimum eight years and six months, while David received 13 years and a non-parole term of seven years and nine months.
Marius Hawell will serve at least five years and five months of a nine-year maximum sentence.
The three were among nine men who rented an Airbnb which became the setting of a nightmare for two 18-year-old friends and a 19-year-old girl who were gang raped over two nights.
The Hawell brothers and David were found guilty in July of engaging in a joint criminal enterprise to sexually assault the women after a weeks-long trial in the NSW District Court.
Judge O’Rourke described the men’s actions as ‘degrading and heinous’.
All three had received letters of support from female family members and loved ones.
Three men have been jailed for the ‘degrading and heinous’ gang rape of three ‘terrified’ teenagers in an Airbnb apartment during a bucks party weekend in Newcastle. Andrew David (above) received 13 years and a non-parole term of seven years and nine months
But Judge O’Rourke said their crimes were in ‘stark contrast to how their mothers, wife, girlfriends and sisters have described them’.
On that weekend, the men had been ‘capable in a pack mentality of treating three young women in this cold, callous, degrading and criminal way,’ Judge O’Rourke said.
‘And of also participating in breakfast on each of the mornings after in which the group of men attending this buck’s party boasted about having sex with the women who attended the apartment, and ridiculed an offender for having sex with a young woman.’
Having testified against the rapists and convincing a jury of their guilt, two of their teenage victims described the lasting consequences of what was done to them.
The 19-year-old said she was ‘terrified to face the world’ after she was sexually assaulted by Maurice Hawell and David in a dark room while Marius watched on the Saturday night.
She told the court in a victim impact statement read out by a support person, she was left feeling vulnerable, experienced panic attacks and was ‘unable to leave my home alone’ in the months that followed.
‘From being constantly surrounded by friends to wanting to be left alone, I felt I deeply lost myself,’ the victim said.
‘I began to blame myself for allowing it to happen.’
Maurice Hawell, 30, Andrew David, 30, and Marius Hawell, 23, were on Friday sentenced over the attacks committed in February 2022 ahead of the older Hawell brother’s wedding. Maurice Hawell (above) was jailed for 14 years with a minimum eight years and six months
The attack, which the woman ‘never imagined enduring’, had forever changed her life.
‘I was known for being happy, outgoing and constantly surrounded by my friends,’ she said.
‘After the assault, I was left feeling vulnerable, terrified to face the world [and] struggled to find my happiness.
‘It took months and months to find myself again, to find my happiness and find my purpose in life.
‘I look back now and am so proud of what I have overcome.’
The 19-year-old said she had countless sleepless nights thinking about what she might have done differently that night to prevent the gang rape.
She had testified about being approached on the street by Maurice Hawell, who used a fake name as he persuaded her to come up to the Airbnb for drinks.
Instead of giving her a drink, Maurice pushed her onto a bed and asked her to have a threesome with him and David.
Marius Hawell (above) will serve at least five years and five months of a nine-year maximum sentence
The three were among nine men who rented an Airbnb (above) which became the setting of a nightmare for two 18-year-old friends and a 19-year-old girl who were gang raped over two nights
The woman refused but David knelt on her shoulders and forced his penis into her mouth while Maurice Hawell raped her.
One of the 18-year-old victims said the gang rape on the Friday night had taken a ‘massive emotional toll’ on every aspect of her life.
‘This event has made me stop trusting the people around me,’ she said in her victim impact statement, which was read out by the same volunteer.
‘I have fear of going out and having fun, which is something I enjoyed doing.
‘I was unable to trust any man around me… it is unfair I have to regain my trust in people.’
The 18-year-old and her friend were pinned down to beds and violated when they went into a bedroom to retrieve their phones as they tried to leave the Airbnb.
Since the rapes, the woman has had constant flashbacks and felt guilt about what happened, which had affected the way she viewed the world.
She had been raped by a man she couldn’t see while another man knelt on her arms and thrust his penis into her mouth.
At the same time, the other 18-year-old was held down on an adjacent bed and stripped naked by a ‘swarm’ of men before being raped.
‘The perpetrators have definitely made myself and my family think very differently of the world we live in and what society has come to,’ the woman said.
‘I am so proud of myself for… the courage to be able to show the world what some people are really capable of.’
All three men continue to maintain their innocence, with Maurice Hawell and David claiming the sexual activity was consensual, and Marius Hawell insisting he had not engaged in any sex acts during the bucks weekend.
All three have indicated they intend to appeal their convictions.
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