Justin James Crudeli: How former PCYC boxing coach and Rovers Football Club player was acquitted of teen rape

On a mild winter’s day in Geraldton last year, a prominent local footballer and two 16-year-old girls decided to hit the spa after hours of shredding waves at Back Beach and chowing down on fried chicken. Fourteen months later, the events of that July 8 afternoon culminated in Justin James Crudeli being acquitted last Friday of twice sexually abusing one of those girls. As she sometimes did, Emily* asked Mr Crudeli to give her and a friend a lift to KFC around 12pm. The then 36-year-old picked up the two teenagers from Emily’s friend’s house in a van owned by Geraldton PCYC — where he worked as a youth boxing coach and is understood to have met Emily. After lunch, the trio surfed for hours before the wind changed and they went back to Mr Crudeli’s Rangeway home for a dip in his spa. Some time passed and Emily started to massage Mr Crudeli, who was sitting in front of her in the spa. He then digitally penetrated her two times while Emily’s friend was also in the water. Emily did not say anything at the time, telling her friend what had happened after they got out of the spa when Mr Crudeli was out of earshot. He dropped the girls back at Emily’s friend’s house, where the girls told Emily’s boyfriend what happened through tears over the phone. Some Snapchat messages were exchanged between Mr Crudeli and Emily, and Mr Crudeli and Emily’s boyfriend, before they discussed what happened in person in the footballer’s lounge room. The men shook hands and Emily gave Mr Crudeli a hug after he admitted he had “f….. up” and “should have known better”. But that was far from the end of the matter. Emily went to the police on July 22 and Mr Crudeli was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual penetration the following day. These facts were accepted by the prosecution and defence counsel during Mr Crudeli’s four-day trial at Geraldton District Court last week, although many other details were disputed. Whose idea was it to surf and go back to the spa? Where was everyone sitting in the spa? Was it Emily or Mr Crudeli who instigated the massage? Why didn’t Emily say something in protest at the time? Why didn’t Mr Crudeli tell police about the sexual penetration when police first asked what happened in the spa? Was it reasonable for Mr Crudeli to assume he had Emily’s consent? The aggravating circumstance was Emily’s friend’s presence in the spa when the sexual contact occurred. But Judge Troy Sweeney later withdrew that element to the charge after ruling the 16-year-old had not been “aware” of the sexual penetration while it was happening. The community response to the allegations after the arrest was widespread — Mr Crudeli was stood down from his role at Geraldton PCYC and the Rovers Football Club barred him from playing for two weeks before allowing him to return to the field on August 26 last year. Geraldton police officers were present for the rest of the 2020 Great Northern Football League season to ensure Mr Crudeli and Emily — who also played for the club at the time — did not come within 50m of each other. The additional security came after Emily lodged a complaint with police, saying Mr Crudeli playing in the game before her had made her feel uneasy. He went on to play the 2021 GNFL season, becoming Rovers’ top goal kicker. Last week’s trial was plagued with delays because of technical difficulties and Judge Sweeney stopping to reprimand defence counsel Malcolm Ayoub for his “improper form” of questioning witnesses, his elevated tone of voice, going on tangents and “obsessively” clicking his pen. He had grilled Emily on her clothing size, photos posted to her Instagram account of her in “underwear” and her sexual history, a question the jury was told to disregard as it breached the Evidence Act. “If you are going to wear your big girl pants, you have to be prepared to be a grown-up,” Mr Ayoub said in his closing argument. Mr Ayoub has a history arguably more colourful than some of his clients. In 2018 his car was firebombed outside his Rockingham home a week after his client — dubbed the “selfie bikie”, Brent ‘BJ’ Reker — was convicted on extortion charges. He has also appeared for Rock Machine bikie Benjamin John Sipkes and at one stage was known to drive a car with the number plate, “loophole”. Prosecutor Leslie Gabriel was more reserved in the courtroom than his learned friend, but firmly told the jury Emily “did not ask, want or consent to” what she said happened in the spa with Mr Crudeli. Mr Gabriel said by Mr Crudeli’s own admissions, he “gave into temptation” in the spa even though it was “not a reasonable mistake” for someone “20 years (Emily’s) senior” to assume a 16-year-old would consent to sexual activity in the presence of her best friend. Mr Crudeli was initially soft-spoken while he was being cross-examined by Mr Gabriel, but the 37-year-old soon raised his voice and told the prosecutor to stop asking “stupid questions” about why he did not verbally request Emily’s consent to touch her. “If you don’t want something, you say ‘no’ or you move away,” he said. “It is wrong, I regret it but it is not illegal.” His head dropped to his hands when the jury declared him not guilty, a verdict which took them less than an hour to arrive at. Mr Crudeli embraced his teary loved ones before leaving court and telling reporters he was glad the trial was over. “It’s been a year and a half, I never got to have my say until now. The truth comes out,” he said. “Stick it in your a..... everyone.” Later on social media, he was quick to shut down anyone who questioned the verdict, telling one Facebook user: “shut ya mouth. Lies leak and the truth always comes out.” “Your (sic) a stupid sheep that believes everything they read”, he said in reply to another comment describing Mr Crudeli’s behaviour in the spa as “creepy”. Answering the big question of why she didn’t stop Mr Crudeli from touching her, Emily told the court she had been “too shocked” to react at the time. Her friend gave a similar response when asked why she didn’t try to get help when Emily shot her a “scared” look while they were in the spa, saying she “didn’t know what to do.” “We were two 16-year-old girls in a spa with a 36-year-old man,” she said. The Geraldton Guardian asked the PCYC if Mr Crudeli would be permitted to return to his paid role, but the organisation declined to comment. Rovers Football Club was also contacted for comment. *Not her real name.