Cricketer found guilty of rape; to flaunt conquests

Worcester, April 13 (IANS) Australian cricketer Alex Hepburn has been found guilty of raping a sleeping woman in England.

Born in Western Australia, Hepburn moved to England in 2013 to pursue the cricketing career. The 23-year-old was charged with raping a woman, not identified, while she was asleep into her bed at the co-shared apartment on April 1 in 2017. Hepburn had denied the charges.

According to reports, Hepburn committed the crime in a desperate bid to 'score' in a WhatsApp game between him and his male friends in which they ranked each other on 'sexual conquests'.

According to Daily Mail, WhatsApp exchanges that suggested the cricketer had sex with 60 women during a previous 'game' were not put before the jurors. In another message, as per the daily, the cricketer described himself and teammate Joe Clarke as a 'pair of tens' who 'should be banging models' was also ruled inadmissible.

Social media conversations, which prosecutors claimed may have been 'scores' from a previous sexual conquest competition, were also kept from the jury.

Judge Jim Tindal told him a jail term was 'inevitable'. 'You have been convicted and now fall to be sentenced. I am adjourning your case for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. But it would not be a kindness to you to leave you under any false impression as to the purpose of that report.

"There is only one sentence that can properly be handed down in this case, and a custodial sentence is inevitable. You need to prepare yourself and get matters in order and attend the Hereford Crown Court on April 30," he said.

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