A controlling, jealous northern NSW man allegedly raped, choked, punched and kicked a woman on three separate occasions over two years including at a five-star hotel in Sydney.
Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt, 22, has pleaded not guilty to a myriad of physical and sexual assault charges involving the woman who cannot be legally named.
As his trial opened before 14 jurors in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court today, crown prosecutor Melanie O’Connell described the Suffolk Park man as controlling and jealous.
READ MORE: Warning as NSW hospitals battle scabies outbreak
In October 2020 while the pair were in a car driving through Cronulla, the woman received a Snapchat message from another man.
In seeing this, Fitzpatrick Burtt allegedly grabbed her phone, jumped out of the car and ran off.
He messaged the other man pretending to be the woman and arranged to meet him at Cronulla where an altercation occurred, the jury was told.
Later that day, the 22-year-old allegedly grabbed the woman’s hair, forcing her to drive him to a family friend.
On the way there, he headbutted her after hearing something he didn’t like, O’Connell said.
That night in a bedroom, he allegedly put his hands around her neck and squeezed.
“He had his other hand on her mouth and … she couldn’t breathe,” O’Connell said.
Fitzpatrick Burtt listened to these submissions from the dock, supported by family members in court.
O’Connell continued, saying the 22-year-old allegedly choked the woman on another occasion in October 2021 as they lay in the bedroom of his Suffolk Park home.
He became angry because the woman was on her phone while he was trying to sleep, the jury heard.
READ MORE: Teen who allegedly stabbed man at Sydney University charged by terror police
A year later, he is accused of raping and repeatedly assaulting the woman on a Saturday night in a hotel room at the Star Grand after the pair attended mutual birthday celebrations.
The complainant is expected to tell the court she returned to the room to retrieve something before leaving for another party.
While inside, Fitzpatrick Burtt allegedly grabbed the complainant by the neck and forcibly held her down.
After she rejected his request for sex, he punched her to the side of the head and raped her, O’Connell said.
After sexually assaulting her multiple times, he then kicked the woman in the face after she started crying, poured ice over her as she lay on the floor and stomped on her, the jury heard.
She then left the hotel room before speaking to hotel security and the police.
A sexual assault nurse who examined the woman the following day is expected to give evidence of her bruises and injuries.
Defence barrister Peter Skinner said his client denied the alleged incidents in Cronulla and Suffolk Park ever occurred.
READ MORE: Russian couple accused of leaking military info have home, assets confiscated
He claimed the sex at the Star hotel was consensual, but says certain acts alleged by the complainant and crown did not occur.
Fitzpatrick Burtt concedes he punched the woman causing her actual bodily harm, but says this occurred at the end of the night after an argument.
“That happened at the end of some fairly bad sex,” Skinner said.
“He lost it and he punched her.”
The assault did not occur before the sexual intercourse to overbear the complainant as prosecutors claimed, Skinner said.
Fitzpatrick Burtt also denies kicking or stomping on the woman.
As the 21-year-old complainant gave evidence by audio-visual link this afternoon, Fitzpatrick Burtt broke down in tears, grabbing tissues from a nearby box.
The trial continues tomorrow.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyond blue on 1300 22 4636.
links to content on ABC
9News
