Victoria Police have seized an audio recording from a Melbourne home detailing events at the centre of the Sydney Swans alleged sexual assaults investigation.
A source close to the investigation, but not authorised to comment publicly, told this masthead that the recording was made in the days following the alleged incident in a room at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel in the early hours of Monday, August 17.
The source said the recording included detailed recollections from people who were inside the hotel room where five Sydney Swans players and two other men had engaged three women to entertain them as topless waitresses.
Four of the Swans players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey and James Jordon – are persons of interest in the unfolding police investigation. Each of the three women have variously alleged they were sexually assaulted and touched inappropriately without consent.
Three other men who were also in the hotel room at the time – Swans player Riley Bice, retired former teammate Taylor Adams and a mystery man – are now being treated by police as witnesses to the pre-dawn events.
A second source with knowledge of the incident, but not authorised to speak publicly, said the recording also included recollections of what took place in the hotel’s lobby, where Swans officials, including coach Dean Cox, interacted with some of the women who had been in the hotel room.
The alleged incident in the hotel room unfolded after a night of wild partying by the players after the Swans beat Essendon on Sunday, August 16 at the MCG.
Separate from the police investigation, the five players were suspended by the Swans for the remainder of this season for breaching the club’s behavioural standards. The sanction did not relate to the sexual assault allegations.
This masthead revealed on Thursday that Blakey is unhappy with the Swans’ handling of the crisis and is now seeking a trade to another AFL club.
The police’s seizure of the recording follows reports in the days after the hotel incident that the football club was made aware the audio existed by a person who said they were connected to the women involved. The club referred this information to the Tony Keane-led AFL integrity unit, which informed Victoria Police.
The Swans and the AFL were told only of the recording, but had no confirmation of its actual existence or knowledge of its contents.
The audio will be key evidence in the unfolding investigation, which police said on Wednesday was likely to take at least another eight weeks’ time.
In that statement, police confirmed that detectives had travelled to Sydney to speak to four of the five Swans players and that a fifth player was now a witness. They said they had also now identified all those present in the room that morning.
This masthead reported this week that several players had declined to participate in what were voluntary interviews.
The Swans, minus the suspended five players, play the Brisbane Lions in a qualifying final on Saturday at the SCG. The winner will go through to a preliminary final while the loser will play a sudden-death semi-final next weekend.
Last month, Swans chairman and millionaire businessman Andrew Pridham said the club’s decision to suspend the five players following the hotel scandal had “effectively torpedoed our season” after the Swans finished the home and away season in second place.
The five players are not expected to attend Saturday’s match.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said: “As previously advised, we’re not providing a running commentary on the investigation. There is nothing further to what was issued earlier this week.”
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