A lawyer who shared an office with slain Wollongong solicitor Katie Foreman has denied he was sleeping with her, despite sending her sexually suggestive text messages.
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A Supreme Court jury hearing the case against Ms Foreman's three alleged killers was yesterday told Robert Hosking sent Ms Foreman a series of text messages in July 2011 saying he had "the urge to pull off your skin tight pants" and asked her to "entertain" him, prompting Ms Foreman to reply "ha ha, that's naughty, I'm so bored".
In separate messages sent two days later and just minutes apart, Mr Hosking asked Ms Foreman if she was "coming over", before saying to her "office or Novotel, you choose".
Ms Foreman sent Mr Hosking a return text message saying, "yeah, I'm coming, on my way back to the office now".
Giving evidence from the witness box yesterday, Mr Hosking denied suggestions he'd been sleeping with Ms Foreman at the time and that the text messages were evidence of the pair's affair.
"The texts are joking and flirting ... they weren't serious," Mr Hosking said, adding he'd sent text messages to - and had conversation with - other people in the past of the same, sexual nature.
"It's the case I do engage in that type of text [messaging] with other people," he said.
However, when asked by defence lawyer Winston Terracini, SC, to name others to whom he addressed such messages, Mr Hosking would only say "I suspect my wife", before adding he could "think of one or two" others but said he didn't want to name them.
The questioning continued:
Mr Terracini: "You'd have to agree 'the urge to pull off your skin tight pants' has only one meaning?"
Mr Hosking: "I'm not sure, what meaning are you suggesting?"
Mr Terracini: "I'm suggesting the only logical and rational meaning is you're seeking to have at least some kind of sexual interaction with Ms Foreman?"
Mr Hosking: "That's not correct."
Mr Terracini further referred to Mr Hosking's text regarding the Novotel hotel, saying it seemed "painfully obvious" he and Ms Foreman had been discussing where to meet up for sex.
"That's simply not correct," Mr Hosking said, again denying he had "any sexual relations" with Ms Foreman when questioned further on the topic.
Earlier in the day, jurors heard from the flatmate of Wendy Anne Evans, the fourth person charged with Ms Foreman's murder, and the only one to have pleaded guilty to the charge.
Andrew Oxman told the court Evans lived with him from mid-2011 until her arrest in December that year.
He said during that time, he met Bradley Max Rawlinson and formed the view he and Evans were an item.
Prosecutors allege Rawlinson, Ms Foreman's estranged boyfriend at the time of her death, was having an affair with Evans and the pair conspired to kill Ms Foreman to be together.
"You said in your statement it appeared they [Rawlinson and Evans] were in a relationship together - on what basis did you form that view?" Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell, QC, asked Mr Oxman.
"They were together a lot," Mr Oxman replied.
He said Rawlinson came to his house multiple times while Evans was staying there and stayed the night on a few occasions in Evans's room, which had a double bed.
However, he admitted he'd not seen them sleeping in it together.
Mr Oxman's then-defacto partner, Amanda De Sousa, said she did not see any evidence of Rawlinson and Evans being "romantically attached" during the time she stayed at the house.
The jury will return to hear further evidence tomorrow.