‘I feel like I’m about to be raped, help’: Read the shocking text a woman sent to mates during a night out with AFL star Daniel Menzel – as he fronts court charged with sexually assaulting her
- The footballer, 29, has pleaded not guilty to sexual touching charges
- He left the Bondi Hotel with the woman and went to his nearby home in 2019
- She claims she found him in top of her, pinning her arms and kissing her
- In texts read to the court she allegedly told friends she feared being raped
Former AFL footballer Daniel Menzel has faced a court accused of twice unlawfully sexually touching a woman in his Bondi Beach home.
The former Sydney Swans player, 29, has pleaded not guilty to both charges after leaving the Bondi Hotel with the woman and walking to his home in November 2019.
The woman came to in a state of ‘somewhat confusion’ to find Menzel on top of her, pinning her arms above her head and kissing her, police prosecutor Nicole McMahon told the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday.
The former Geelong and Sydney forward then got off the woman and the pair had a short discussion, the court heard.
‘It’s alleged (Menzel) again pins the victim’s hands down, kissing her in the mouth and allegedly aggressively places his hands under her clothing,’ Sergeant McMahon said.
The now state-league footballer, 29, has pleaded not guilty to both charges after leaving the Bondi Hotel with the woman and walking to his home in November 2019 (pictured, outside court on Monday)
The woman reported the matter to police the next day, saying she’d been possibly drugged, the court heard.
Lead detective Jacob Vassallo agreed a toxicology report indicated no sign of date-rape drug GHB, but that there were signs of alcohol and MDMA in her system at the time of the test.
CCTV shows Menzel and the woman speaking at a table and also dancing inside Bondi Hotel, where they’d travelled together from Double Bay nightclub Bedouin.
Twelve minutes after she was seen walking with Menzel to his home, the court heard that she messaged friends: ‘Where are you … I feel like I’m about to be raped … help’.
The woman reported the matter to police the next day, the court heard, after a night at the Bondi Hotel (pictured)
Some 76 minutes later, another message from the woman said: ‘I was drugged … I am fine xx love you’, according to police.
The messages on the woman’s phone also alluded to her self-administering one cap of MDMA at Bedouin.
The lead detective said he didn’t notice the drug-taking conversation the first time he saw her phone but discussed it with her the next day.
‘Up until you had a discussion on that, was she forthcoming with you?’ Menzel’s barrister Julia-Ann Hickleton asked.
‘She disclosed it at the time of the formal statement,’ the officer replied.
A first-round draft pick, he debuted for Geelong in 2010 and was an emerging star before rupturing a knee ligament in the 2011 final series (pictured, with the Sydney Swans)
Menzel, who has no criminal history, discussed the matter with police before he was charged.
The Adelaide-born man currently plays for Woodville-West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League, having been delisted by the Swans at the end of 2019.
A first-round draft pick, he debuted for Geelong in 2010 and was an emerging star before rupturing a knee ligament in the 2011 final series.
Four knee reconstructions later, he returned for the Cats late in the 2015 season before moving on at the end of the 2018 season.
After further surgery, this time to his groin, Menzel managed seven games for Sydney in his final year in the AFL.
The hearing, before magistrate Michael Crompton, will continue at a later date.
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