© EPA/AP
Gregory Cox has been charged with the sexual assault of a 21 year old woman on Bondi Beach in January 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."
Comment: And this reported yesterday:
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