Overview

• Two security guards told the Broome District Court they experienced groping and sexual comments at the Roebuck Bay Hotel, with one saying she stayed silent for fear of losing shifts and being labeled a complainer.
• Under cross-examination, the defence suggested the guards made complaints to gain compensation, which both witnesses rejected.
• A former worker testifying as a patron said the manager pulled down her bikini top at the venue in January 2020; the defence questioned her delay in reporting and said he was out of Broome for much of that month.
• An English backpacker gave evidence via video link from London, alleging the manager raped her in 2020 and later touched her at work; she rejected defence claims the encounter was consensual and that no drugs were involved.
• Stewart Patrick Burchell has pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual penetration without consent over alleged conduct between 2017 and 2023 at the Roebuck Bay Hotel and related settings.