Alleged Tinder defendant was a ‘user’ but didn’t rape woman, his lawyer claims

Cheryl Goodenough | April 12, 2022

Text messages show a man accused of drugging and raping a woman he met on Tinder as “a bit of a user”, but that does not make him a rapist, a court has been told.

Jon Dennis Gurney is facing trial accused of spiking a 33-year-old woman’s drink and raping her after the pair met using the dating app.

The pair met on October 28, 2019 days after communicating via the application, the Brisbane District Court trial has been told.

The Crown alleges the pair met for drinks and had consensual sex twice. 

Then during a night out drinking they argued but agreed to have a last drink – which the woman says she sculled – before getting into an Uber, crown prosecutor Michael Andronicus has told the jury.

The woman claims Gurney had slipped MDMA into her drink and raped her at her house.

After Gurney had left the woman found “Sorry babe” written on a post-it note, which Mr Andronicus told the jury could be regarded as an admission to rape.

But defence barrister Stephen Kissick said the woman would have been angry after finding the note because she would have looked out the window and seen Gurney driving away in his ex-girlfriend’s car.

Reading through some of the hundreds of texts between the pair, Mr Kissick said the woman was not trying to keep Gurney at bay after the alleged rapes, as argued by the Crown.

“She was in fact trying to draw him in and he was the one being at bay.”

Mr Kissick said the texts don’t show his client in good way.

“You will see the obvious that he’s a bit of a user, particularly a user of this girl. That doesn’t make him a rapist,” Mr Kissick told the jury.

The court also heard the woman had given Gurney a phone for which he was supposed to pay $350, and paid for drinks on their nights out when he claimed he could not access his cash.

But Mr Kissick told the jury Gurney “is not on trial for being a shark and getting some money from this woman and taking advantage of her kindness”.

The barrister argued the woman was angry about that, initially told a doctor she was raped by four men and there was no evidence of her being drugged.

“At the end of the day … you’ll have a very really serious doubt about each of the charges and you’ll find the defendant not guilty,” Mr Kissick said.

Gurney has pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape and one charge of administering an unknown drug intending to commit a sexual act.

The trial before Judge Michael Rackemann continues.