Rugby league super coach Wayne Bennett has told a court that he received glowing reports of Tristan Sailor as the former NRL player’s sexual assault trial entered its closing stages.
Mr Bennettxjmtzyw provided a character reference for Mr Sailor, who is standing trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court as he fights allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in October 2020.
Mr Sailor, 23, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault, arguing that he engaged in consensual sex with the woman after playing drinking games at a Wolli Creek apartment in southern Sydney.
The trial has entered its closing stages, with closing submission beginning on Tuesday morning.
Crown prosecutor Jeffrey Tunks read to the jury snippets of the woman’s testimony where she said the last thing she remembered of the night was sitting on the couch drinking vodka.
Mr Tunks said that she told the court: “I remember I was having, like, headspins.
“I felt really wobbly. I didn’t really have much control over any part of me.”
The woman claims she did not consent to having sexual intercourse with the 23-year-old former St George Illawarra Dragons player.
The court was told that Mr Sailor met up with the woman – who cannot be identified – at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi on October 3, 2020, before they went back to her apartment with one of her friends and Mr Sailor‘s teammate Eddie Blacker.
Mr Sailor, the son of NRL great Wendell Sailor, said during his testimony he didn’t believe the woman was drunk and instead had a bubbly demeanour.
The jury was played CCTV of the woman drinking at a Bondi Mexican restaurant during the evening, with Mr Tunks telling the court she did a fingernail of cocaine before leaving.
Mr Tunks told the court that after arriving at the pub around 5.55pm, the woman messaged a friend saying “I’m so lit I can’t function” and “I can’t even see straight”.
CCTV played to the jury showed the woman sitting next to Mr Sailor as they drank with a group of friends.
“She was demonstrably affected by alcohol as the afternoon and evening went on,” Mr Tunks said.
Mr Bennett told the court that he had known Mr Sailor since his birth and took a great interest in the 23-year-old’s progress because of his connection to Mr Sailor’s father, whom he coached at Brisbane and St George Illawarra, and mother Tara.
Mr Bennett departed the Dragons in 2011 and hadn’t had much personal contact with Mr Sailor since then but had regularly asked fellow coaches and managers for reports on his behaviour and conduct.
“I wanted to make sure he was on the right track,” Mr Bennett told the court via audiovisual link.
“I always asked about him because I was terribly interested to make sure he was on the right track with his behaviour, particularly alcohol and drugs.
“And his respect and how he conducts himself on and off the football field.”
Asked about the reports he received back, Mr Bennett said: “I got constant feedback he’s a really decent young man. And had a great training ethic, always respectful, certainly wasn’t into alcohol or drugs in any way.
“None of those staff said he was doing either of those things other than having a few beers.”
Former Dragons coach Paul McGregor told the court that he had known Mr Sailor since he was 10 years old, spending time with him at least once a week before coaching him at the Dragons, where he handed him his NRL debut in 2019.
He described Mr Sailor as a “gentleman” who was involved in charity work.
Asked if he had ever seen him be violent or anti-social, Mr McGregor said: “No, as a professional athlete I was trying to get him to be more aggressive.”
Mr Sailor’s manager David Riolo told the court that in mid-2020 and with his contract expiring, he had pressed upon his client the importance of not being involved in off-field incidents.
He said at the time he had received interest from the Parramatta Eels and rugby union franchise the Melbourne Rebels and didn’t want possible negotiations affected by negative publicity.
The trial continues.
