Queensland-born man Jonathan Wade Williams-Hooper expresses relief at sexual assault acquittal

A Queensland-born man has declared he will impose a “five-date rule” before hooking up with potential partners after being acquitted of sexual assault. Jonathan Wade Williams-Hooper faced a Bunbury District Court trial last week with a jury on Wednesday finding him not guilty of sexual penetration without consent. It was alleged Mr Williams-Hooper accompanied his friend James Sinclair and his partner Alyssa King to a female friend’s house for drinks, where he met the now 20-year-old woman during the afternoon of November 27, 2020. The court was told Mr Williams-Hooper had recently moved to WA from Queensland at the time and was staying at Ms Kings’ family property in Allanson. The group eventually made their way to the Crown Hotel in Collie where they consumed alcohol, socialised and danced through the night. When Mr Williams-Hooper, Mr Sinclair, Ms King and the woman all caught a lift back to the Allanson property after the Crown Hotel closed for the night, Mr Williams-Hooper went to bed inside a bus on the property that was fitted out with several beds and mattresses. The woman ultimately ended up on another bed that was on the bus but was later invited by Mr Williams-Hooper to get into bed with him to keep warm when she allegedly complained of being cold. In evidence, the woman said she accepted the invitation but told Mr Williams-Hooper to “stay away from him” and told him “no” and asked him to stop when he allegedly started touching her arm, crawled on top of her and allegedly sexually assaulted her. She also told the court she got a “weird vibe” from Mr Williams-Hooper and went out of her way to avoid interacting with him throughout the night. However, Mr Williams-Hooper told the court the woman had placed her leg over his body when she got into bed with him, prompting him to ask if she would like to have sexual intercourse with him, to which she responded “sure let’s do it but I don’t want to get pregnant”. He also gave evidence that he and the woman had danced together for a period of time while at the Crown Hotel when she “lifted her dress, trying to be sexy”. Mr Sinclair also gave evidence that he saw the pair dancing together and the woman lifted her dress to “show more skin”, while Ms King said she saw the woman lift her dress, but could not recall if the woman was directing the action towards anyone in particular. Both Mr Sinclair and Ms King also told the court they offered other places for the woman to sleep and they could not see that the woman was crying when she later approached them to report that Mr Williams-Hooper “had taken advantage of me”. However, the woman told the court the bus was the only spot on offer to her and had cried several times after the alleged incident. Ms King also told the court she received a Snapchat message from the woman at 3:30am, despite the woman telling the court she had no phone signal until she left the Allanson property later that morning. In closing, Mr Williams-Hooper’s defence counsel Paul Chapman and state prosecutor Gary Huggins both told the court the two different versions of events could not both be correct. But Mr Chapman questioned the credibility of the woman’s recollection of particular details during the night in question and submitted the woman could have asked to get a lift back to her Collie home but chose to go with Mr Williams-Hooper, Mr Sinclair and Ms King, pursuing an alleged interest in Mr Williams-Hooper. Following the two-day trial, Mr Williams-Hooper hugged Mr Sinclair as he left the Bunbury Courthouse, telling the Bunbury Herald he felt “relieved and stress-free”. “I can finally move on and put all the worries in the past,” he said. “Since this has happened, I haven’t been able to trust as easily when I go out and interact with women and I’ll be able to slowly start rebuilding that trust again.” When asked if the trial had served as a wake-up call to make sure he has consent in future hook-ups, Mr Williams-Hooper said “bloody oath”. “Make sure you have a five-date rule,” he said.