Kurtley Beale Cleared of Sexual Assault Charges: Australian Rugby Player Found Not Guilty

Australian rugby union player Kurtley Beale has been acquitted of charges of sexually assaulting a woman in a pub bathroom in Sydney. Prosecutors claimed that Beale groped the woman and later coerced her into performing oral sex in December 2022. However, the Wallabies star maintained that their encounter was consensual, and his legal team argued that the woman had lied in order to gain sympathy from her fiancé. Following a two-week trial, a jury found Beale not guilty of all three charges. This verdict clears the way for Beale, who was suspended by Rugby Australia during the legal proceedings, to resume his rugby career. The trial, held in the New South Wales District Court, heard that both Beale and the woman had been drinking and had met at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi. The jury was presented with CCTV footage that allegedly showed Beale placing his hand on the woman's buttocks and depicted their entrance into and exit from the men's bathroom. The woman, whose identity is protected by law, testified that Beale forced himself upon her in the toilet cubicle. However, Beale's defense argued that the sexual encounter inside the stall was consensual and initiated by the complainant.