Australian-born cricketer Alex Hepburn jailed for rape to appeal against conviction

Australian-born cricketer Alex Hepburn will reportedly appeal against the conviction at the Court of Appeal. The 24-year-old player was convicted for raping a woman in his teammates’ room back in 2017. In April 2019, the Worcestershire player was given a five-year prison sentence in June. The incident has allegedly taken place at a flat in Worcester.

According to the report published on The West Australian, the challenge appeal by the cricketer would be heard by Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett on Thursday. During the trial, the prosecutor had claimed that the ex-player of the Worcestershire Cricket County Club had been involved in the contest which fired him up to commit the heinous crime.

They had suggested that the contest was between a few men who can sleep with more women. This is what led to the act of rape committed by Hepburn at his flat in Worcester, central England, in April 2017.

Alex Hepburn’s lawyer expresses regret on behalf of her client

At the time of the trial, judge Jim Tindal, who sentenced the Aussie-born cricketer to prison sentence called the player as ‘immature’. He also had agreed that Hepburn and an ex-teammate of his, had agreed a “pathetic sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible. You probably thought it was laddish behaviour at the time. In truth, it was foul sexism.”

During the trial, the lawyer defending the cricketer had expressed deep regret on her client’s behalf. She said, “It demeaned women and trivialized rape — a word you personally threw around lightly. Only now do you realize how serious rape is.”

The victim of the incident was deemed to be very ‘brave’ by the judge. She described the assault committed by the cricket as “evil” and “heinous crime”. A jury had found Hepburn guilty of oral rape at a retrial earlier this month but cleared him of a further count of rape relating to the same victim.

The woman who was attacked by Hepburn didn’t reveal her name to the media. During the four-day trial which happened at the Worcester Crown Court, she described the entire incident. She also revealed that she thought she was engaging in a sexual encounter with Hepburn’s then county teammate Joe Clarke.

Clarke is a batsman who has played from England Lions, a second-string international team. Clarke and the lady have met at a nightclub. During the trial, she also claimed that she had consensual sex with Clarke. She informed that Joe had left his bedroom in the early morning to have fallen sick and passed out in the bathroom.