Three charges including one of rape against high-profile Sydney man withdrawn during trial

The man is accused of raping five women, with charges regarding a sixth withdrawn on Thursday. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges
READ: “2024’s Best IT Security Solution: Malwarebytes for Comprehensive Protection”
A high-profile Sydney man has had three charges against him – including one count of rape – withdrawn for an undisclosed reason and the complainant will no longer appear before the court.

The complainant who alleged the man had assaulted her three times, which led to the charges, was set to be the sixth and final complainant to appear before the New South Wales Downing Centre district court.

The accused, whom Guardian Australia cannot name due to a suppression order, is facing trial after pleading not guilty to 12 charges – which included six counts of rape – alleged to have occurred over six years against six women on separate occasions.

Following the crown prosecutor Adrian Robertson telling the court there would be no further proceedings against the accused on three charges, the man now faces nine charges, which include five counts of rape.

The withdrawn charges include one count of rape, one act of indecency, and one count of assault.

“Put a big line through those charges,” Judge Jane Culver said to the jury. “They are no longer in existence.

“There is no evidence of those matters before you and you must completely put it out of your mind.”

Later on Thursday, the court heard testimony from a former girlfriend of the high-profile man, who said he showed her video footage he filmed of her on numerous occasions without her knowledge.

“[The accused] had lots of cameras and GoPros … I did not know that I was being filmed or when I was being filmed,” she said of footage taken in a home where they lived together in 2016.

Robertson asked the woman, who appeared as a witness before the district court if she could see where the devices “might have been” after watching the footage.

She responded that she could tell areas where the camera was “hidd