The identity of a high-profile Sydney man acquitted on two counts of rape in October can be revealed, after court orders were lifted.
Anthony Lister, a renowned artist, is the man who faced a six-week trial after pleading not guilty to nine charges – including five counts of having sexual intercourse without consent – that police had alleged occurred over a three-year period against five women on separate occasions.
Lister, 44, a pioneer of Australia’s street art movement, has been touted as Australia’s Banksy and his art is among Australia’s most collected. His scrawling and figurative drawings and paintings have been seen in galleries – and streets – across the world. During the trial, Lister would often draw scenes of the courtroom.
In October, he was found not guilty on four out of a total nine charges. After 12 days of deliberation, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining five charges, which included three counts of rape against two women. He will face a retrial on those charges in 2025.
On Thursday the suppression order prohibiting Lister’s identification as the defendant in the case was lifted after an application from media outlets.
In remarks about his decision to revoke the order, Judge John Pickering said on Thursday he rejected the argument of Lister’s defence counsel that revealing his identity at this time would “poison” a future jury pool for the retrial.
“That seems so unlikely for lots of reasons, one of them being, with greatest respect to Anthony Lister, he is not that incredibly famous within this city.
“It’s difficult for me to see what is so significant about this trial that an order needs to be made.”
Pickering also rejected the argument that revoking the order would put Lister’s safety at risk in light of “vitriolic abuse” on social media four years ago, and also cause undue embarrassment.
“This court does not give much significance to the risk of keyboard warriors actually posing a real risk,” she said.
Over the course of around six weeks, the five complainants – four of whom were aspiring artists – gave evidence.
Lister’s defence had argued that the sex with four women who allege he raped them was consensual, “not in the circumstances alleged by the crown”, and that no sexual contact “whatsoever” occurred with another. They argued the complainants “admired the accused, even idolised him”.
The jury found Lister not guilty of charges relating to the allegations of two women, and not guilty for one of the three charges alleged by another woman.
The not guilty verdicts were returned against a charge of indecently assaulting a 21-year-old woman; a charge of having sexual intercourse without consent and occasioning bodily harm against a woman when she was 19 and he in his mid-30s; and a charge of having sexual intercourse without consent in respect of another woman when she was 29.
For the charges related to the remaining two complainants, the jury was unable to reach a verdict. They were also unable to reach a verdict on two of the three charges alleged by the other woman. The charges included three counts of rape against two separate women, and one count of assault after he allegedly grabbed a women’s throat and on another occasion allegedly threatened to distribute an intimate video of her.
One of the charges that the jury could not reach a verdict on involved allegations that Lister raped a woman while she was undertaking a two-month long internship with him.
Lister will face a retrial on those charges, split into two separate trials, which will begin on 20 October 2025.
He was acquitted in a separate trial in October of the charge of possessing 1.8 grams of LSD, which is considered a commercial quantity.
