A Perth restaurateur is on trial accused of sexually assaulting eight women after nights out at Perth bars, pubs and nightclubs, with some of the alleged offending dating back eight years.
WARNING: This story contains details of alleged sexual offences.
Alberto Nicoletti, the former owner and manager of Italian restaurant Lago di Como, has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including sexual penetration without consent, indecent dealing and deprivation of liberty.
His friend Vincenzo Mineo is on trial with him, on two charges relating to the alleged assault of two women on consecutive days in March 2021.
That is when, the District Court heard, the men were charged over an alleged attack in Scarborough.
State Prosecutor Elisabeth Noonan said the two had befriended a woman at a bar, before luring her to a disabled toilet by pretending to be gay and saying they were going to use cocaine.
However, Ms Noonan said that once the woman was inside she was sexually assaulted by both men.
Later that same night, it is alleged Mr Nicoletti offended against another woman he had met at another bar, while Mr Mineo is accused of sexually assaulting her friend.
The court heard both women were "highly intoxicated".
Both men deny the allegations against them.
Further alleged assaults detailed
Mr Nicoletti is also accused of the sexual assault of a further six women dating back to 2016.
The court heard the first alleged incident happened in the car park of his restaurant after he met the complainant at Northbridge pub.
Police were called and forensic samples taken, but Ms Noonan said the investigation did not progress because the complainant could not be contacted.
In another incident, it is alleged Mr Nicoletti assaulted a woman at his South Perth apartment in 2018 after she got into his car in the early hours of the morning believing he was her Uber driver.
Police also investigated that incident and Mr Nicoletti was interviewed.
Ms Noonan said at one point he told the detectives the allegation had taken him by surprise because he "was very much a gentleman".
Mr Nicoletti is accused of assaulting another woman in the foyer of his apartment building after she had dined at his restaurant with her husband.
He is also alleged to have carried out two separate sexual assaults on women on the dancefloor of venues in Northbridge.
Ms Noonan said there was no apparent connection between any of the complainants, other than the alleged assaults which happened after they had been on a night out and drinking.
'A court of law, not morals'
In an opening address to the jury, Mr Nicoletti's lawyer, Tom Percy K.C. urged the jury not to presume there was any strength in the case against his client because of the "sheer number" of allegations he was facing.
He said Mr Nicoletti accepts that he did come into contact with at least seven of the women, but he maintains some of what happened was not sexual at all.
Mr Percy said if sexual relations did happen, they were either consensual, or his client had a "reasonable and honest belief" they were.
"Mr Nicoletti was a young single man. He is good looking … he is attractive to young women and not adverse to casual consensual encounters. But that's no crime," Mr Percy submitted.
"It might well be said he was promiscuous to an extent that many of us might not approve of, but he is not on trial for that.
"This is … a court of law, not a court of morals."
Mr Percy rejected any suggestion that his client was a sexual predator, saying there was nothing in his behaviour that was criminal.
He described some of what was being alleged as "extraordinary" and told the jury it was likely they would have little difficulty rejecting some of the evidence they would hear.
Mr Percy also suggested some of the women may have come to regret what occurred, including one of the complainants whom he said had "a three-way sexual encounter" the night before she alleges she was assaulted by the two men.
The trial, before a jury, is expected to run for about four weeks.
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