Woman in Tim Paine sexting scandal ‘was asked about threesome’ by cricket chief

Former Cricket Tasmania chief Stephen McMullen has been accused of making sexual comments to Renee Ferguson, the woman at the centre of the Tim Paine sexting scandal.

Ferguson, a former employee of Cricket Tasmania, launched a sexual harassment claim against the organisation in November, with both Paine and his brother-in-law Shannon Tubb named in the lawsuit.

Paine is alleged to have sent lewd texts with Ferguson back in 2017 and sent her an unsolicited picture of his genitals, with news of his messages becoming public knowledge back in November.

After the details came to light, Paine stood down as Australia 's Test captain, with Pat Cummins taking over on the eve of the Ashes.

In a prepared statement read out at the time of his resignation, Paine told reporters of a 'difficult' decision, but accepted his actions did not "meet the standard of an Australian cricket captain."

He also added that a Cricket Australia investigation and Cricket Tasmania investigation had found there was no breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct but conceded that he deeply regretted the incident at the time.

Tubb was later accused of also sending explicit messages and an unsolicited picture of his genitals to the same woman. In response to the accusations he told the Herald Sun : “There’s no comment on that at all mate, I’m sorry.”

Now, it has been alleged in court documents that McMullen, who used to be general manager of venues at Cricket Tasmania, made "inappropriate sexual comments" to Ferguson.

McMullen is accused of asking Ferguson if she had ever had a threesome, along with several other inappropriate comments.

On another occasion, it is alleged that McMullen asked Ferguson "Oh, you need two bananas, do you?" after seeing two bananas on her desk.

McMullen has denied the claims.

In the documents, Ferguson says the harassment was "relentless and systemic and no one was doing anything about it".

Despite the efforts of his lawyer Ken Read, the allegations against McMullen have been made public following a hearing at the Federal Court of Australia where he attempted to have his identity suppressed.

"My client is in a sense a bit of a bit player in the entirety of the allegations," Read argued. "The allegations against others within the complaint are much more florid and much more extensive."

However, federal court judge Mordy Bromberg dismissed McMullen's application to keep his identity private.

Read More

Read More

Source: Read Full Article