British millionaire 'told sexual assault victim: this will never go anywhere'
A British millionaire allegedly sexually assaulted a young woman he met at a fashionable bar in Sydney and then told her "this will never go anywhere - I've got a lot of money", a court has heard.
Gregory Cox has been charged with the sexual assault of a 21 year old woman on Bondi Beach in January 2013 Photo: EPA/AP
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
3:52PM BST 20 May 2013
Gregory Cox, 32, the founder and chief executive of the UK-based Quintessential Finance Group and a graduate of the exclusive Millfield boarding school near Somerset, has admitted to a sexual encounter with the woman – a 21-year-old from Bermuda – but claims she consented.
The trial started with a new jury this week after the first jury was discharged last week for legal reasons.
The alleged assault occurred on Sydney's famous Bondi Beach after 11pm on a Saturday night in January 2012. The pair met at a beachside bar, The Bucket List, where the woman swapped phone numbers with one of Mr Cox's friends.
The woman, who had only arrived in Australia four days earlier, also chatted with Mr Cox about his boarding school and later walked off with him along the beach. But he faces accusations he held her head while standing with his back against a wall on the beach and forced her to perform oral sex.
The crown prosecutor, Huw Baker, told the court that the woman had a patchy memory of what happened after leaving the bar but recalled being "terrified" as she tried to stop Mr Cox's efforts to force her to perform oral sex.
"She recalls being on her knees and she tried to stand up but being unable to stand up because something was holding her down," Mr Baker told the court. "She recalls being terrified at that point."
After Mr Cox withdrew, the woman allegedly cried: "Please stop, please stop - I don't want this."
Mr Cox allegedly told the woman: "There's nothing you can do about it... You can tell the police, you can tell whoever you like but this will never go anywhere - I've got a lot of money."
Mr Cox, who has a £1 million flat in Battersea, south London, was reportedly visiting Australia with a colleague to attend a conference when the alleged attack took place.
The court heard he told his friends that the woman willingly engaged in sexual intercourse but suddenly “freaked out” and threw her handbag away and ran off.
The defence barrister, Graeme Turnbull SC, said Mr Cox had sexual intercourse with the woman but she had consented and her later evidence was “unreliable”. He said before leaving the bar, she had asked "Who wants to come down to the beach with me?"
"Her conduct, you may find, was entirely consistent with a willing participant," Mr Turnbull said.
The woman’s handbag, the barrister said, was “crucial” to the case. Mr Cox allegedly took the bag to a police station and provided his personal details and later returned to the bar to ask if anyone knew the woman.
"He takes her bag and he hands it in [to police] and he dobs himself in," Mr Turnbull told the jury.
"If he was a rapist… is that consistent?"
No evidence of semen was found on the beach or in a swab taken from the victim's mouth, the court heard.
Mr Cox was arrested four days after the alleged assault when he returned to the bar and was identified by staff. He failed last year to have publication of his name suppressed.
Mr Cox has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
The trial continues.
