They were the country "footy boys" who shared a close-knit team of mates and enjoyed having a beer at local pubs.
But Ryan Matthew Hawkshaw, 27, and Hayden Charles Topliss, 37, are now behind bars, staring down the barrel of years in jail, after they were found guilty of forcing an 18-year-old woman into having a threesome with them while she repeatedly told them to stop.
After hearing conflicting accounts from the three people that were inside the spare bedroom of "Toppa's" house at Scone in the early hours of April 22, 2023, the jury was left with no doubt that the young woman had told the truth.
She said she had been raped by the two men and described it as torture that left her in pain for days.
The verdicts mean the jury found that the "threesome" was not "just a really bad sexual encounter" and "hardly very gratifying", as Topliss's defence barrister had suggested, but an agreement between two mates to perform sexual acts with the woman without her consent.
The Crown case in the Newcastle District Court trial was that the 18-year-old woman had been interested in Hawkshaw, a rugby league player she knew from around the pubs and the social scene in Scone as one of the "footy boys".
They had exchanged Instagram messages where Hawkshaw had told her "I want to f--- you" and "let's f---".
But when she agreed to give a lift to Hawkshaw and his Scone Thoroughbreds teammate "Toppa" after they had been out drinking beers and vodka cokes for several hours, the concept of a threesome with the older man she hardly knew had not been raised with her.
Meanwhile Topliss gave evidence that Hawkshaw had shown him a message that night while they were at the Scone RSL from a person he did not even know the name of, indicating she would drive the pair back to "Toppa's".
Topliss gave evidence that he recalled Hawkshaw saying "we could be on here". He said he took that to mean the woman "could be keen" to come inside and have group sex.
Beyond some conversation in the car, "chit chat" and a beer in the kitchen, Topliss claimed he barely spoke to her at his house.
On his evidence, he went into the spare bedroom of his home where she and Hawkshaw had been having sex, but never got an erection, stopped performing consensual sexual acts with the woman, and left the room without a word.
He did not ask if the threesome was OK but "assumed" Hawkshaw had raised it with her.
The jury instead found the victim was being honest when she said Hawkshaw did suggest Topliss come into the room, but that she had said no.
The victim said she had started to put her clothes on, but Hawkshaw briefly used his phone and Topliss entered a short time later, naked, and pushed or shoved her onto the bed.
The jury heard what the Crown described as a detailed, textured and nuanced account from the victim of the sexual assaults she then endured.
The Crown case was that the men repositioned the woman on the bed, touched her hair, and repeatedly ignored her pleas to stop.
The 18-year-old woman gave evidence that Hawkshaw left the room and Topliss continued to assault her, claiming she could not leave him with "blue balls", before ejaculating on her face and leaving.
The court heard the victim woke her sister with a knock on her bedroom door when she got home about 3.30am that morning, to tell her she thought or believed she had been raped.
The acts Topliss and Hawkshaw forced the woman into inside the bedroom amounted to four counts each of sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated by the fact they were in each other's company. The jury found each man guilty on all charges.
Topliss was found guilty of an additional charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
The woman did not report the matter to police immediately and did not seek medical attention for an injury she said she suffered.
But the court heard that if she saw Hawkshaw and Topliss down the street, she would "point them out", particularly Topliss, and tell her sister, "that's the guy that raped me".
That changed about a year later. The woman was on a dance floor at a Scone pub with her sister and another man on April 20, 2024. Topliss happened to be there too. The victim said Topliss grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his genitals through his shorts. Topliss was also found guilty of sexual touching without consent.
The court heard the way that event unfolded sparked an argument between the sisters so fierce that slamming doors woke their mother when they got home.
Their mother said she initiated a discussion and her daughter revealed how Topliss and Hawkshaw had "had their way with her" the year before.
"I said she needed to report it to protect other women, so this doesn't happen to other people," she said.
The woman went to Muswellbrook Police Station a few days later to report the dance floor incident and the non-consensual group sex.
Detectives launched an investigation, unearthing messages Topliss and Hawkshaw had shared after waking up on the morning of April 22, 2023, and ringing around some of their friends.
The court heard Topliss had asked in the messages if the woman would "keep it quiet", which he claimed was so he would not lose his girlfriend. Hawkshaw had messaged that he remembered "f- all" from the night before.
The pair was arrested in September 2024. They were granted bail. The court heard Hawkshaw had never had a criminal conviction and Topliss had also been of good character.
But on Wednesday, they were spending their first night behind bars after the guilty verdicts were handed down.
Their defence barristers made no opposition to the Crown's applications to take them into custody on the spot.
Cries erupted inside the packed Newcastle District Court on Wednesday afternoon when the men found out their fates, as their family members and supporters comforted each other.
Topliss and Hawkshaw will face a sentence hearing later this year, where their victim, a woman now aged 21, is expected to lay bare the impact the offending has had on her.
