After three days of often graphic evidence, sex worker Madeleine Joan Lewin offered no explanation about what happened in room 608 at the Sunshine Tower Hotel on the night Brisbane businessman Anthony Brady died.
The 34-year-old, representing herself at her manslaughter trial at the Supreme Court in Cairns, sat at the bar table silently throughout the proceedings.
She left her court files on the floor beside her. She did not cross examine any witnesses and did not give evidence or make a closing statement to the jury.
It took the 12 jurors less than an hour to return a unanimous guilty verdict.
In instructing the jury before they began deliberations, Justice James Henry told them the fact that Lewin did not give evidence was "not evidence against her".
"It does not constitute an admission of guilt by conduct and it may not be used to fill any gaps in the evidence led by the prosecution.
"It proves nothing."
A circumstantial case
The prosecution alleged Lewin, a sex worker, failed to ensure Mr Brady's health and safety during a consensual bondage activity on the evening of August 12, 2020.
From the start, the Crown acknowledged its case against Lewin was circumstantial.
Mr Brady's body was found face down on the bed with a hood over his head, and handcuffs and bindings around his wrists and legs.
A gag had been placed near his mouth.
Some of the bindings were difficult for police to remove when they investigated the crime scene.
A damaged SIM card Lewin had been using was discarded in the bathroom.
Evidence shown to the jury, including CCTV footage, suggested she left the hotel in a hurry.
The court heard she walked a few blocks before catching a cab to a friend's house. On the way, she asked the taxi driver to take her via a fast-food drive-through outlet.
CCTV tracks victim's final movements
The jury saw the exchange of messages in which Mr Brady arranged to meet Lewin at the hotel that night.
He'd agreed to pay her $350 for one hour of sexual services.
There was a mention of "toys" in the messages but no clear indication bondage, or anything similar, was to take place.
CCTV footage captured Mr Brady walking across Cairns from his own hotel to the one were Lewin was waiting for him, and popping into a service station to withdraw cash.
But when the 52-year-old businessman arrived at the underground car park of the Sunshine Tower Hotel, some of his messages went unanswered.
"I'm going to go," Mr Brady eventually messaged Lewin.
He then received a phone call.
The final CCTV footage of Mr Brady alive showed him using his phone outside a lift.
After the call, he stepped inside the lift and pressed the button.
'No evidence of heart attack'
The prosecution's argument was that Lewin did not take reasonable care to ensure Mr Brady was safe during what the court was told was an "inherently dangerous" act.
A forensic pathologist, Dr Paul Botterill, told the court there was nothing to suggest Mr Brady had died of something like a heart attack.
He said the most likely cause of death was an obstruction to the airway blocking oxygen to the brain.
The jury heard evidence from an expert psychotherapist about the risks and safeguards associated with BDSM — which stands for bondage discipline and sadomasochism.
"You don't just start out calling yourself mistress, master, so-and-so," the expert witness, Dr Gavi Ansara, told the court.
Justice Henry, in summing up the case, instructed the jury to decide whether appropriate care was taken according to reasonable standards of the general community, not those of the BDSM community that Dr Ansara had described.
After the verdict was handed down, the prosecution tendered a victim impact statement from Mr Brady's family, which they asked not be read out in court.
The court also heard Lewin grew up in New South Wales and had no criminal history until she turned 31.
She had experienced mental health issues, including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Justice Henry, considering whether to order a psychiatrist's report before sentencing, asked Lewin whether she would take part.
"I would not co-operate, Your Honour," she replied.
Lewin will return to court for sentencing on Friday morning.
