A judge has ruled against sidelined St George Illawarra Dragons star Jack de Belin in his pre-trial application, paving the way for his sexual assault trial to begin as scheduled in November.
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Judge Andrew Haesler on Friday morning formally refused the pre-trial orders sought by lawyers for de Belin and his co-accused, Callan Sinclair and confirmed their joint trial date of November 2.
De Belin and Sinclair stand accused of sexually assaulting a young woman inside a North Wollongong unit block during a night out in December 2018. Both have pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges.
Judge Haesler said he was unable to make the details of his decision public for legal reasons.
But a brief explanatory statement read out in open court revealed the nature of the legal argument that has consumed more than a month of court time between February and August related to issues surrounding alleged breaches of de Belin and Sinclair's legal professional privilege.
According to the NSW Information and Privacy Commission, legal professional privilege "protects confidential communications and confidential documents between a lawyer and a client" when a lawyer provides legal advice to that client, for use in current or future court proceedings.
Lawyers for both men claimed their respective client's individual legal professional privilege has been breached during preparations for the trial.
Judge Haesler explained that it had been necessary to close the court to the public and media for much of the pre-trial argument so those issues could be "fully argued".
He acknowledged the frustrations many might be feeling at the level of apparent secrecy surrounding the proceedings so far, but asked for patience and provided the following explanation.
"It is critical to our system of law and justice that what happens in court be open to public scrutiny," he said.
"A secret court system is not a system of justice. But there are, on rare occasions, very good reasons why some court proceedings should be conducted in secret or have reports of the proceedings delayed.
"More often than not, after a time, what occurred in court can be revealed.....[but] it is appropriate that the media and the public wait until after the proceeding conclude.....so that any risk of injustice or miscarriage of justice can be avoided."
Judge Haesler said a 12-person jury would ultimately hear the evidence against the two men and determine their guilt or innocence.
He said his decision "[does] not detract from the fundamental presumption that both accused are presumed innocent until and unless a jury decide otherwise."
De Belin and his lawyer remained silent when they left the courthouse shortly after 10am, with neither answering questions about whether an appeal would be lodged against Judge Haesler's decision.
Meanwhile, De Belin remains stood down on full pay under the NRL's controversial 'no-fault stand-down' policy, which has kept him sidelined for the best part of two seasons.
The Dragons had included him in their 'bubble' in the hope legal proceedings would be concluded in time for him to make a possible return to the field this season but that is no longer a possibility.
De Belin and Sinclair, who have been in court for each day of the proceedings, remain on conditional bail.
The proceedings so far....
Jack De Belin and Callan Sinclair had been due to stand trial in early February however lawyers for both men raised significant legal complications in the case they said needed to be resolved before a trial could begin.
They spent the following week-and-a-half in pre-trial legal argument before a key witness in the discussions fell ill.
The case was adjourned to April but those sittings had to be abandoned due to COVID-19 and the case was rescheduled to June 22.
Lawyers for both parties spent the week debating the issues in question.
At the time it was hoped the matter could be resolved by the end of the week, however protracted discussions meant closing submissions were not finished by that Friday and the case was given two more hearing days.
The submissions concluded in July, at which time Judge Haesler reserved his decision for a month.
He had previously indicated it would take him "a couple of weeks" to review all the material, make a decision and prepare a written judgement.
Details of what has been discussed in the pre-trial legal argument cannot be published for significant legal reasons.
