The men – and teenage boy – involved in an alleged gang rape filmed on a GoPro which was recently seized have appeared in court, as the father of one of the men accused weighs in on accusations against his son.
Tristan Carlyle-Watson was reportedly one of the eight men in a room at a party in Sydney’s West in May when a 16-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped, with footage being filmed on a GoPro.
The GoPro was recently seized by police investigating graffiti offences, bringing the 16-minute video to the Child Abuse Squad’s attention.
As Mr Carlye-Watson appeared in court on Thursday his father told Fairfax his son said a week ago he was likely to be charged for the gang rape.
“He was worried when he told me, of course he was,” Mr Carlyle-Watson’s father, James, told Fairfax.
Mr Carlyle-Watson has been charged with concealing a serious indictable offence and has not been charged for sexual assault.
“My son doesn’t want to do that,” James told Fairfax.
“He has girlfriends all over the place. The way he gets on with girls … why would he want to go waste his time and do that?”
The alleged victim reportedly only knew one man in the room and police have said the 16 minute footage shows her “unconscious or semi-conscious” during the alleged sexual assaults.
Tristan Carlyle-Watson. Image via Twitter.
Authorities have also claimed the 16-year-old was likely to not have reported the case as she did not remember it or was in fear of the ramifications.
The court reportedly heard the girl sent Mr Carlyle-Watson a message in the morning asking what had happened and “who is this kurt person”.
Mr Carlyle-Watson reportedly said he didn’t want further communication with her and assured her nothing happened.
The court also heard Mr Carlyle-Watson laughed at the alleged victim and encourage the other men accused of sexual assault to go through with the “deplorable” act.
“At no stage did he try and help the victim, who was unconscious,” prosecutor Varinder Pawar said.
Mr Carlyle-Watson appeared in court via videolink and reportedly shook his head when his bail was denied.
The other three men – and teenager – charged appeared in courts across Western Sydney on Thursday. None of them applied for bail.
Andrew Waters, 23, and Kurt Stevenson, 25, appeared at Penrith Local court for to face charges of aggravated sexual assault. Their cases have been adjourned to December 10.
Ayden Devereux, 24, also fronted up to court for aggravated sexual assault charges and the additional charge of filming a private act without consent.
The youngest of the accused, a 17-year-old boy, appeared at Paramatta Children’s Court, charged with indecent and sexual assault offences.
They will reappear in court next month.
