Women at centre of Swans saga set to sue stars and club

Lawyers for two of the women involved in the Sydney Swans alleged sexual assault incident in a Melbourne hotel room are preparing to launch legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court against the five players and the club.

The lawyer representing the two women told this masthead that the legal proceedings would be launched in the Common Law Division of the Victorian Supreme Court, with the women set to claim damages for pain and suffering, psychological injury and economic loss.

“We are currently investigating the circumstances and preparing to commence legal proceedings against the club and potentially the individuals involved,” Manny Carbone, a partner at Carbone Lawyers, said.

“Our clients are extremely traumatised and feel that their dignity and personal rights have been seriously violated by the events of Monday.”

Five Swans players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice – have been suspended from play for the rest of this year for their part in the incident that unfolded in a Pullman hotel room in East Melbourne in the early hours of last Monday.

A woman who visited the room has alleged she was sexually assaulted by one of the players. A police investigation is under way.

Star player Isaac Heeney is at the centre of the police investigation.

John Karantzis, the head of personal injury law and litigation at Carbone Lawyers, described the alleged assault as “demeaning, abhorrent and simply not moral or acceptable”.

“These women were subjected to the most disgusting actions and behaviour I have ever heard about in my 28 years as a lawyer,” he told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday.

“They’re suffering severe stress and anxiety. They’re actually fearing for their life at the moment ... they are literally in hiding and they are suffering.”

Karantzis said there were “even a few leaders in that room” along with the five Swans players.

“I can’t go into detail because this will be the subject of proceedings, criminal and civil,” Karantzis said. “However, things got out of hand. The line was crossed.”

The Sydney Swans denied there were any other Swans players or officials in the room.

“The Sydney Swans can confirm that all investigations carried out by the club have consistently indicated that the only representatives of the club in the room central to the police investigation were the five players who have been stood down,” the club said in a statement on Friday morning.