doob
Legend Member
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Yet sounds so true and disgusting. HOpe the judge throws the book at them.
A man on trial for the sexual assault and rape of multiple Perth women over a 4½-year period says “there are two sides to every story”.
Como restaurant owner Alberto Nicoletti and his friend Vincenzo Mineo went on trial on Tuesday, the court hearing how they allegedly tricked one woman into believing they were a gay couple heading to a Scarborough bathroom to take cocaine when they raped her.
Alberto Nicoletti is facing sexual penetration charges.CREDIT: FACEBOOK
State prosecutors outlined how from 2016 to 2021 Nicoletti allegedly attacked eight young women, none of whom knew each other, and who had on each occasion been on a night out or drinking.
In one case, in July 2018, Nicoletti allegedly pretended to be an Uber driver and picked up a 20-year-old woman from outside the Hip-E club in Leederville. He allegedly took her to his apartment against her will and lured her inside before sexually assaulting her.
The court was told the girl found an opportunity to escape and ran from the apartment without her purse or shoes before hiding and phoning a friend.
Nicoletti is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the car park of his Como restaurant, Lago Di Como, in 2016 and later raping a married woman after she was invited to his apartment with her husband.
Mineo is on trial over two of the incidents.
But Nicoletti’s defence lawyer Tom Percy KC told the jury his client did not deny he came into contact with seven of the eight alleged victims and that in some cases he had consensual sex with them. In other cases he says there was no sexual contact at all.
“Mr Nicoletti was a young, single man,” he said.
“He was good-looking and had a successful restaurant business. He was attractive to young women and not, by any means, averse to casual consensual sexual encounters.”
Percy said Nicoletti could be called “promiscuous” but urged the jury not to judge him on his morals, only his alleged criminality, of which Percy argued there was none.
“Some of the women had, at the time, as you will hear, been drinking,” Percy said.
“As had he. And while there may well come a time when a state of intoxication may have a serious bearing on someone’s ability to truly consent, that was, we say, never a factor in relation to any one of the incidents that you will hear about in this case.”
The now 32-year-old Nicoletti and 39-year-old Mineo were arrested and charged after police released security vision of two men exiting a Scarborough beach public toilet shortly after a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted inside.
Both men deny all charges and have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues.
‘Two sides to every story’: Como restaurant owner denies raping multiple women
By Rebecca Peppiatt
Updated February 6, 2024 — 9.38pmA man on trial for the sexual assault and rape of multiple Perth women over a 4½-year period says “there are two sides to every story”.
Como restaurant owner Alberto Nicoletti and his friend Vincenzo Mineo went on trial on Tuesday, the court hearing how they allegedly tricked one woman into believing they were a gay couple heading to a Scarborough bathroom to take cocaine when they raped her.
Alberto Nicoletti is facing sexual penetration charges.CREDIT: FACEBOOK
State prosecutors outlined how from 2016 to 2021 Nicoletti allegedly attacked eight young women, none of whom knew each other, and who had on each occasion been on a night out or drinking.
In one case, in July 2018, Nicoletti allegedly pretended to be an Uber driver and picked up a 20-year-old woman from outside the Hip-E club in Leederville. He allegedly took her to his apartment against her will and lured her inside before sexually assaulting her.
The court was told the girl found an opportunity to escape and ran from the apartment without her purse or shoes before hiding and phoning a friend.
Nicoletti is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the car park of his Como restaurant, Lago Di Como, in 2016 and later raping a married woman after she was invited to his apartment with her husband.
Mineo is on trial over two of the incidents.
But Nicoletti’s defence lawyer Tom Percy KC told the jury his client did not deny he came into contact with seven of the eight alleged victims and that in some cases he had consensual sex with them. In other cases he says there was no sexual contact at all.
“Mr Nicoletti was a young, single man,” he said.
“He was good-looking and had a successful restaurant business. He was attractive to young women and not, by any means, averse to casual consensual sexual encounters.”
Percy said Nicoletti could be called “promiscuous” but urged the jury not to judge him on his morals, only his alleged criminality, of which Percy argued there was none.
“Some of the women had, at the time, as you will hear, been drinking,” Percy said.
“As had he. And while there may well come a time when a state of intoxication may have a serious bearing on someone’s ability to truly consent, that was, we say, never a factor in relation to any one of the incidents that you will hear about in this case.”
The now 32-year-old Nicoletti and 39-year-old Mineo were arrested and charged after police released security vision of two men exiting a Scarborough beach public toilet shortly after a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted inside.
Both men deny all charges and have pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues.
