‘Stark raving mad’: Roebuck Bay Hotel manager denies accusations of assaulting pub workers

3 hours ago 5

The former manager of one of Western Australia’s most famous outback pubs has given evidence in his trial, denying allegations of sexual assault and rape spanning a six-year period.

Stewart Patrick Burchell took the stand on Monday in the WA District Court, sitting in the tourist town of Broome, over a series of charges levelled against him over allegations from former workers at the Roebuck Bay Hotel between 2017 and 2023.

Stewart Burchell leaves court on Friday.

He has been charged with 13 counts of indecent assault, and one allegation of rape, by former employees including a “skimpy” bartender, a food and beverage manager and two security guards.

Burchell originally faced 16 charges, but District Court Judge Belinda Lonsdale said Burchell had no case to answer on two of the charges and acquitted him on both on Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to the remainer.

In the stand on Monday, Burchell spoke about his experience working at “the Roey” after decades spent working in hospitality around Australia.

“The Roey was losing half a million dollars over the last three years when I got there, so I wanted to make it profitable,” he said.

He completely denied the allegation levelled at him by a skimpy barmaid, who said he assaulted her by tapping her bum while she worked at the pub, and later attempted to inappropriately touch her in staff accommodation in 2017.

“That would bring [down] the whole foundation of what I was trying to achieve,” he said.

“If I’m doing it then what would stop patrons or other staff from doing it?”

“I refute that.”

Burchell also denied he locked a manager in staff accommodation and sexually assaulted her in 2017, but said his relationship with her had been difficult prior to the incident as he had recently put her on a performance management plan.

“She wasn’t happy about it … [she was] disgruntled,” he said.

Burchell told the court he was never informed about either woman’s complaints to police and also denied an allegation from a former worker that he had pulled down her top at the hotel’s wet T-shirt contest in 2018.

“That’s outrageous because there were people around, and they would think I was stark raving mad,” he said.

Police were not able to locate any witnesses to the alleged incident.

The Roebuck Bay Hotel runs a regular wet T-shirt competition.

Burchell told the court a claim he raped a backpacker who worked as a bar worker at the pub was also false, and said a relationship developed between the two.

“It was flirtatious … she would make comments like “you smell nice, you look good today”,” he said.

He denied the pair took cocaine together in the venue’s toilets on the night of the alleged rape, before they went to her home where she “poured me the strongest rum and coke I’ve ever had in my life”.

He said the pair consensually had sex.

Also on Monday, the court heard WA Police had records of complaints made against Burchell dating back six years before they began their formal investigation.

Detective Emma Goodall started the investigation into Burchell, and gave evidence that when she began digging she found a number of statements dating as far back as 2017 about Burchell’s alleged behaviour.

Goodall told the court it wasn’t until a security guard made a formal complaint to the police in 2023 that a formal investigation began.

She said detectives raided the pub in March of that year, seized CCTV from 46 cameras around the venue and warned Burchell he was under investigation by police.

Goodall sent an email to former and current Roebuck Bay Hotel employees about the investigation, aiming to encourage others to come forward or receive support from police.

Detective Constable Ben Lucas took over the case four months later after Goodall went on leave, and told the court on Monday he began trying to locate witnesses in each of the allegations, but was unsuccessful.

Lucas said it was also difficult to view all the CCTV from the venue’s 46 cameras.

“It’s years and years of footage – if every camera held three months of footage, [multiplied by] 46, that’s about 11 years of footage retained on the hard drive,” he said.

The trial continues.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.