Three men convicted of gang rape at a Newcastle bucks party are appealing their sentences. Lawyers told an appeal hearing that the jury may have may have wrongly considered the men's state of mind to be a "sinister element".

Newcastle

Three men convicted of gang rape following a bucks party in Newcastle have appeared via video link from prison to appeal their sentences. The offences occurred in February 2022, involving Maurice Howell, his brother Marius Howell, and friend Andrew David, who were sentenced to 14, 9, and 13 years respectively for sexually assaulting three young women after initially consensual encounters at an Airbnb.

During the appeal hearing, defence barristers challenged the verdict, disputing whether the men acted together in a joint criminal enterprise and questioning the accuracy of the victims' accounts, including the number of people present. The sentencing judge described the crimes as degrading and heinous, emphasizing the lack of dignity afforded to the victims.

Convicted gang rapists appeal jail sentences

A night out in Newcastle to celebrate the groom ended in a gang rape and three men in prison. Today they appeared on video link from jail appealing their sentences. The offences occurred in February 2022 at a Bucks party for Maurice Howell, now aged 31. His co-offenders were his 24-year-old brother, Marius Howell, and his friend and groomsman, Andrew David, now aged 31. The men met the teenagers at the Cambridge Hotel and invited them back to their Airbnb, where there were episodes of consensual sex. But when the women tried to leave, they were surrounded by a swarm of people and were forcibly and repeatedly sexually assaulted. Their victims, two 18-year-old women and a 19-year-old. The men were handed sentences of 14, 9 and 13 years in prison for actions the sentencing judge, Gina O'Rourke, described as degrading and heinous. Each offender acted as if she was an object, not a young female person who deserved to be treated with dignity. In today's appeal hearing, defence barristers argued it was an unreasonable verdict, disputing whether the men took part in a joint criminal enterprise. They questioned the victims' evidence around the people present, suggesting numbers were exaggerated or misremembered, as well as one of the women saying she felt as though she had to pretend like she was enjoying it. The defence barristers believe their clients can be acquitted of at least some of the charges. Sarah Navin, 10 News.

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Jerusalem

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New York

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Texas

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Kyiv

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Breakdown