Hotelier accused of multiple rapes after work event

7 hours ago 6

A prominent hotelier has been granted bail as he faces a dozen rape charges against an employee inside one of his venue following a boozy work event.

Jonathon Voll is part-owner of several businesses in the Hunter region’s Nelson Bay area, including waterfront restaurant Mavericks on the Bay.

Jonathan Vollis is a prominent businessman in the Hunter region.

The 44-year-old went out with colleagues after an award’s event on September 2 last year and drank lots of alcohol, the NSW Supreme Court heard.

After others left, he was alone with a female employee inside one of his venues. From 11:30pm, the woman was allegedly detained and repeatedly raped over two hours.

Justice Hament Dhanji described the case as “somewhat unusual” as it was entirely captured on CCTV, and this was the only alleged evidence as the complainant did not remember what happened.

Voll’s solicitor Elie Rahme told the court the pair did not have “the usual relationship”, and the encounter happened in the context of mutual “financial benefit [and] sexual gratification”.

Crown prosecutor Lucas Dowling claimed their conversations on the night of the incident “would hardly be described as a typical forerunner to consensual sexual activity in terms of it being romantic, loving, caring”. However, Rahme said their mutually beneficial relationship explained the complainant’s “lack of romantic response”.

Prominent Hunter businessman Jonathon Voll is facing charges of rape, kidnapping and assaulting a victim under his authority.

“You will see … the text messages leading up to this [incident are in a] similar vein… suggest[ing] that the applicant is seeking romantic development of the relationship, whereas the complainant doesn’t respond. She is not rejecting his conversations or rejecting talk of buying things and buying clothes,” Rahme said.

The court heard that before the alleged assault, the pair discussed whether their relationship was exclusive.

“And then he starts to prod it [by saying] ‘Well are we done? And we are never having sex again?’ And she never says ‘No, I don’t want to have sex’,” Rahme said.

The CCTV footage showed the complainant try to push past Voll, but he grabbed her and pulled her back, the court was told.

When Voll began performing oral sex on the woman, she is alleged to have said “get off me c***, get out,” and Voll responded “Baby, please stop it”.

Rahme argued there was more “talk” that could not be heard via the CCTV.

Dhanji said their relationship provided “some context” but could not impact the woman’s entitlement to consent on different occasions.

“I do not see anything in the nature of the pre-existing relationship that is capable of providing any significant light on the interactions between the applicant and the complainant… viewed in the context of the elements of the [alleged] offences,” he said.

The judge said that while Voll submits he complied with various requests to stop sexual activity, “any suggestion [he] was mindful to obtain consent or desist when consent was withdrawn is not supported by the picture revealed by reading the Crown case statement in its entirety”.

Dhanji said the “very strong Crown case” regarded “extremely serious charges”, but he had not watched the CCTV recording and did not know what would unfold at trial.

“It is not for me in a case such as the present to view the footage and make a presumptive finding of guilt,” he said.

The court heard Voll was charged with 12 counts of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent with a victim under his authority, and 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent as alternative counts, as well as one count of kidnapping.

“The complainant in each of the matters was employed by the business and… it appears that there was a sexual relationship between the applicant and the complainant, which had been ongoing for at least some time,” Dhanji said.

Having been in custody since his arrest on September 3, 2024, and with a trial unlikely to start until mid-2026, Dhanji said Voll would have spent nearly two years in custody by the time of a potential conviction.

This influenced Dhanji’s decision to grant bail, alongside Voll’s family commitments, clean criminal record and the option to be bailed to a Sydney address far away from the complainant.

Dhanji noted Voll faced a separate charge of sexual touching in the local court dating to July 2022. He said “no action was taken” following a police interview, but the matter was “revived” last month.

Voll was granted bail with a $50,000 surety and conditions including electronic monitoring, a 6am-10pm curfew and daily police reporting. He must abstain from drugs and alcohol, not contact the complainant or prosecution witnesses, surrender his passport and not go near international departure points or the site of the alleged offending.

He is next due to face Newcastle Local Court on July 30.

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