Cricketer Alex Hepburn accused of rape linked to WhatsApp ‘game’

A county cricketer allegedly raped a woman in her sleep after setting up a sexual conquest game with friends on messaging service WhatsApp, a court has heard.

Australian all-rounder Alex Hepburn, 23, who plays for Worcestershire CCC, is accused of attacking the woman after she had consensual sex with another player, Joe Clarke, following a night out in April 2017, Sky News reports.

Hepburn denies two counts of rape, claiming the alleged victim was awake and that initial kissing led to consensual sexual contact, says the BBC.

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But Worcester Crown Court heard that the victim “believed she was still in bed” with Clarke, who had left the room to be sick, after waking to find a man performing a sex act on her, the news site continues.

Opening the prosecution’s case on Monday, Miranda Moore QC alleged that the victim “realised she was not with Clarke when she touched Hepburn’s hair and he then spoke in an Australian accent”.

Moore told the jury: “Immediately she pulls away, she says, ‘Where’s Joe?’

“Hepburn says to her, ‘You are beautiful’ and tries to encourage her to continue having sex with him but she is having absolutely none of it.”

The prosecutor told the court that a member of the public dialled 999 after finding the alleged victim “distressed and crying in the street” in the early hours of the morning.

Perth-born Hepburn had seen “that girl asleep in the bed and decided to take advantage”, Moore added. “That is what this case is about, this defendant’s attitude to women.”

Jurors heard that Hepburn had been part of a WhatsApp group set up to record details of women with whom its members had sex, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. Messages referred to “freshies” and “re-heats” - said to indicate whether the women had previously slept with other members of the group or not.

The court heard that among the “rules” of the “stat chat” group was that “every freshie” be rated out of ten, and that the “winner” of the contest be rewarded with a night out paid for by other group members. A message from Hepburn read: “Got to be freshies, names, age, black or white, your rating, their rating.”

“From the prosecution point of view it may well be that what was on this defendant’s phone will help you in deciding what he was up to that night,” Moore added. “This game had precious little to do with cricket.”