G B F v The Queen [2010] VSCA 135

G B F v The Queen [2010] VSCA 135 - VSCA 2010 case summary — Zoe

[16]

... Until recent times I considered GBF a good friend and my family and his family would socialise together. There have been times where GBF would visit my house and we as a family would go to his house. My daughter has also baby sat his son at his home.

...

Over the years though GBF had been quite forward towards me in a sexual way [with] which I have never been comfortable and there have been times when I have felt sick over some of the things he has done to me (Uncharged acts). I have never in any way encouraged his advancements [sic] and I have at all times told him that what he was doing was not on and that I had not intentions of doing anything of a sexual nature with him.

About 5 or 6 years ago I was working at the hotel and had to go to the cool room to get something. GBF followed me down and cornered me and started looking at my breasts. He then reached out and touched them (Count 1). I didn't like it and he said, 'Come on, no one will ever know'. I said 'Don't' to him and then pushed away from him and left the cool room.

Around that time a few of the other staff and I went and saw Noel BUNCE who was the owner at that time. One of these was [C 2] and she was alleging that GBF had assaulted her as well. It was around the same time. We, [and WE and WR] complained to him about GBF behaviour but I don't know if I told him in detail about what had happened in the cool room with GBF.

...

GBF would regularly walk past me and put his hand out a bit so that he could brush across my vagina area or he would put his arm out and brush himself against my breasts. I started having to protect myself by putting my elbow out to stop him from getting too close to me and prevent him from rubbing a part of his body against mine. He would clap his hands and then reach out towards me as if he was going to grab my breasts and I felt that I would have to protect myself.... He started making comments about my breasts and he would ask me to unbutton my shirt a bit for him... (Uncharged acts).

[22]

A few months later I was at the hotel finishing up for the night. It was a Sunday night and the workers all tend to stay and have a few drinks after work. I had to lock the hotel up and all the other staff had left except for GBF. I was still counting tills. He was hanging around and offered to make me a drink which I accepted. He wouldn't take no for answer. He told me to come and sit down and have a talk. I told him that I would have a Baileys and milk but he made me something else. When I tasted his drink it wasn't what I had asked for and it was strong. I was feeling uncomfortable. GBF said that it was one of his specials. I was sipping on it as we talked.

I was having marital problems at home and GBF was asking me how things were going. He was telling me that he was there for me and that he would do anything for me. He asked me if [I] thought about me and him and I told him no. He said, 'Come on, you must have thought about me and you together before'. I said 'No, I don't see you like that'. I asked him why he was saying that to me because he was married. He just kept telling me that I must think about it and that he thinks about it and he was trying to get me to see what things would be like with him. I told him that I wasn't interested and that he was only a friend to me. I told him that I had enough problems and that I wasn't interested in any relationship with him.

The phone rang and it was Danny seeing where I was. I got off the phone and told GBF that I had to go. I walked to the door at the entrance to the bar to make sure it was locked. As I walked back towards the bar GBF pinned me up against the window (bench) and he kissed me on the lips. I was in shock scared [sic] and tried to get away but he just kept trying to kiss me (Count 4). I was petrified of him and he started putting his hands all over me. He was touching my breast (Count 5) and putting his hands between my legs and grabbing my vagina over my clothes (Count 6). I told him to stop and to leave me alone but he just started pleading, 'Just let me'. I said no and tried to get him away from me. I pushed him off me and then he started joking about the way I kiss. He was trying to make out that nothing bad had happened. He made me feel dirty like I asked for it. I felt sick and didn't know what to do.

I walked behind the bar to turn the lights off and he stood out in the lounge near the fire place. I walked past him and he grabbed my arm. He said, 'Please' and I said no and kept walking. I just wanted to get out of there. I walked through the lounge door to get to the alarm which is near the back stairs. GBF went into the kitchen which has a doorway that leads to the same area I was in. He said 'Come here' and I said no. He then grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the kitchen area. He then picked me up and sat me on a kitchen bench near the doorway and pushed me down onto my back saying, 'Come on lets just do this. Just let me please'. He was leaning over me and he grabbed the front of my pants and tried to get his hands inside my pants (Count 7). I was scared he was going to rape me and I pushed his hands away from me and jumped up and off the bench. GBF left me and walked off down the back stairs. I switched the alarm on and walked down the back stairs and GBF was standing beside my car as if nothing had happened waiting for a ride home. At this stage I was in shock and petrified of him.

[25]

On Wednesday the 3rd December, 2008 we had a work Christmas party in Leongatha. GBF had told me that he wasn't going to the party but he offered that if people wanted after party drinks they could go to his house. He also got Erin Cairns and Karyn Wilson to txt [sic] me to say go back to GBF's house after xmas party.

The party went to 1130pm and my husband and I left with Brett CHARLTON and Jack [sic] DOWEL.[1] CHARLTON drove us back to Korumburra and dropped my husband off at home. Jack was staying at my house for the night but we wanted to go out and keep socialising...

As we were walked [sic] down the street we decided to ring Melanie GBF mobile and see if we could go there and have a few drinks. I had Melanie's mobile number in my phone which was why we rang her. There was no answer so I rang directory and got their home number.

I rang GBF house and Greg answered. I could hear Mel in the background. I told him we were looking for somewhere to go but I could tell that Mel wasn't happy with us calling so I told him not to worry. He said he would come out and get us which I felt was okay because Jack was with me and I felt safe knowing that he wouldn't try anything with her around.

GBF picked us up ...

... Because we were so close to Jack's house she said, 'You might as well take me home'. I started to panic because I didn't want to be left alone with GBF.

When we got to Jack's house I got out of the car and said that I needed to use her toilet. I went inside and begged Jack to come back and stay at my house but she just said nah she would stay at her own place now that she was there. ... She didn't want to come with me back to my house so I went and got back into the car with GBF.

GBF could have turned into Station Street off the Korumburra Warragul Road but he didn't ... I was getting very frightened and I pleaded for him to take me home. He went a bit further up the road and then did a u-turn and drove back past Bourke Street before pulling over to the right hand side of the road. He then reversed into an area back off the road and parked his car.

I asked him what he was doing and he said, 'I just want to talk'. I told him again to take me home but he just leant over and went to kiss me. I told him, 'Don't'. He then lent over further and he started putting his hands all over me. He put his arms around me and under my top and undid my bra. He then lifted my top higher so that my breasts were exposed. I told him, 'I don't want to do this.' But he didn't care what I thought.

He then started begging with me, 'Please let me, please let me'. I told him that I didn't want to do anything with him. He was down kissing my breasts (Count 8) and I just froze. I was frightened and sick. He kept kissing my breasts and he forced his hands down inside my pants and was touching my vagina. He was trying to put his fingers in my vagina but couldn't (Count 9). He then started to undo my jeans. He got them open but not down. I kept saying, 'Don't , I don't want this'. He has said, 'It's okay, it's okay'.

He then put his head down towards my vagina and was kissing me just above the vagina area (Count 10). I pushed his head off me and I was telling him, 'Don't, don't'. He wouldn't stop and just forced his head back and kept kissing me down there. I said, 'I'm bleeding.' Meaning that I was having my period but he didn't care, he just kept kissing me.

GBF then turned the interior light of the car on and this shook me up. I said, 'What are you doing?'. He said, 'I just want to see what I am doing'. He then started kissing my breasts again (Count 11) and he moved down my body and kissed me more in the area above my vagina (Count 12). He also kiss[ed] me on the lips but I didn't respond at all to him. He then grabbed my hand and put it on his penis and said, 'Just touch me, it's okay'. His penis was erect and he was moving my hand up and down his penis masturbating him (Count 13). ... I pulled my hand away a few times but he just kept putting it back.

...

GBF was sitting in the driver seat and he reached over and grabbed my head and pushed it down towards his penis. He then begged me to suck his penis (Count 14) but I refused to. I said, 'Nah, I can't, don't do this'. I pulled my head away and he gave up on that. He then started kissing me again on my lips and breasts (Count 15). I told him again to leave me alone but he ignored me.

GBF kissed my lips and breasts for a while and then he got out of the car. He told me to get out as well but I told him that I wasn't going to, I was frightened of what he would do next ...

After a few unsuccessful tries to get me to go into the back he shut the door and got back into the car. I thought he would drive me home then but he came over to me again. He started kissing me again and was trying to shift me towards the back of the car. He had hold of my shoulder area and he was pulling and pushing me over the centre console and part way into the back of the car. I was so frightened of what was going to happen next. He managed to get me into the back seat of his car and then he climbed over the centre console and on top of me.

I don't know how he got my pants and underwear down but I realised that they were around my ankles. His pants were down but I don't know if he had them full off. He grabbed my hand and I had to touch his penis again. His penis was erect and I had to masturbate it again (Count 16). He was kissing me all over again and I could feel his fingers inside my vagina moving around (Count 17). I tried to squirm away from him further back into the car but it was too hard and I didn't get very far.

He tried to put his penis into my vagina but I don't think he could manage to get himself inside me (Count 18). He said, 'Come on, I'm only small, help me'. I didn't want him to have sex with me and I told him, 'Nah, it's wrong, stop it'. I told him again that I didn't want to do it with him and I said, 'Why are you doing this to me, why you [sic] doing this to your wife and kid?' He didn't say anything back to me.

GBF stopped soon after that and he got off me. He asked me to just hold him but I wouldn't ... He got out of the back driver side door of the car ...

... He then came back into the car and over to me. I was still crouched in the back seat area of the car. He ripped [sic, pulled] my pants up and then did my bra up. I said to him, 'Just fucken take me home'. He then got into the front seat and he drove me home. I stayed in the back seat of his car.

When we got to my house I got out of the car and opened the front passenger side door. I grabbed my bag and mobile phone and he said, 'I've fucked up haven't I? I've fucked up again'. I just shut the car door and walked off. It was about 2 am on Thursday the 4th December when I got home ...

[28]

I knew the GBF family but I hadn't met Greg until I started working at the hotel [at age 18]. After a few weeks working at the hotel I noticed that Greg was very hands on with me. He would walk past me and brush against my breasts or he would brush his hand across my groin as he walked past. I didn't think that they were accidental because it happened all the time (Uncharged acts).

There were times when I was pouring a pot of beer and he would stand on the right hand side of me. He would reach across in front of my body and grab a pot out of the rack in the glass rack on the left hand side of me. When he did this his hand would brush against my breast. He did this regularly and not only to me but the other staff as well and I had seen this all the time and first thought that that was the way it was... (Uncharged acts).

There were other times when he would make rude comments to me. I would bend down to pick something up and he would say something like, 'All my Christmases have come at once' or 'While your [sic] down there' inferring that he wanted me to give him a head job. I would just brush him off as he would say the same things to others (Uncharged acts).

Greg would finish in the kitchen between 8.30 and 9 pm. He would then come over to the bar and have a knock off drink and a chat. On the nights I worked I would watch the clock and hate the time he arrived ... He would appear out of nowhere and tell me that he was going. He would then lean in to give me an unexpected kiss and I would turn away and say 'Yeah seeya' [sic] and keep doing my work.

In early 2004, I'm not sure of the exact date ... It was a Saturday night and I was at the hotel working. There was a function upstairs at the hotel and I was working the function. The function was going and the kitchen was closing. I went down stairs to find out about the finger food and when it would be ready.

I went into the kitchen and nobody was in there. I walked over to the bar to see if there was a message that had been left and Greg was sitting at the bar. I asked him if he knew what was going on with the food upstairs. He said yeah I'll come and show you... Greg helped me out with the food and then I went to leave.

I walked over to some platters on the bench near the dishwasher. Greg said that he had to show me something with the dishwasher... He said that the washers had been turned off entirely which wasn't the case when I usually use them so he had to show me how to do that.

I was in a hurry so I walked over to the dishwasher which is in the corner. I turned around and Greg was there in front of me and I was stuck in the corner. I got a fright because he was so close to me and I said 'Fuck'. Greg was saying something to me but I don't remember what he was saying but he kept himself close to me. It was like he was trying to chat me up. He then reached out with his left hand and started rubbing across both of my breasts (Count 19). At the same time he reached down with his other hand and put it between my legs on my vagina over my clothes (Count 20). He was trying to kiss me and I just froze. I was in shock at what Greg was doing to me.

He then moved his left hand under my top and reached up and started rubbing my breasts over my bra. His right hand then slipped inside my pants and underwear and he started rubbing my vagina with his hand. He started rubbing the outside of my vagina and then I felt his fingers rub between the lips of my vagina back and forth twice. He was trying to get his fingers right inside my vagina. I was shitting myself. I felt that what was happening was [my] fault. I was scared of what he was doing. I knew that what he was doing shouldn't be happening to me and I just couldn't get any words to come out of my mouth. When his fingers went inside the lips of my vagina (Count 21) I thought 'fuck' and it was like I snapped out of the shock I was in. I pushed Greg away as hard as I could and said, 'No' to him. I just had to get him away from me.

I can't remember much about what happened during the rest of my shift that night. I know that I went back to the function room but that is all.

At a glance

Court

Decision date

Before

Source

Judgment (145 paragraphs)

G B F v The Queen [2010] VSCA 135 (7 June 2010)

Parties

Legislation Cited (1)

Cases Cited (7)