Andrew Varigos, former owner and marketing manager of Melbourne’s Love Machine nightclub, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape and one count of assault, stemming from an alleged incident involving a female employee in January 2020.
The County Court of Victoria heard that after a staff birthday party at the Prahran venue, Varigos and the woman, then in her early 20s, left the club in the early hours and later went to his apartment.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Prosecutor Nick Batten said Varigos initially offered to sleep on the couch but instead allegedly assaulted the woman in bed, forcing her to perform a sexual act and having non-consensual intercourse.
Batten told the jury the woman took photos of her injuries and left the apartment around 6:48am, but did not report the incident until over a year later.
Varigos’ lawyer, Philip Dunn KC, said the encounter was consensual and argued the woman’s delay in reporting, memory lapses, and withheld phone data undermined the investigation. Dunn said many details in the police brief would be “hotly disputed.”
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
