A 30-year-old Perth man, Michael McConnaughty, is accused of sexually assaulting two women he met through dating apps, and he tells the court he believed the women were consenting. The allegations relate to incidents in 2019 and 2023.
Multiple outlets report that prosecutors allege McConnaughty committed sexual assault without consent. McConnaughty’s defence, as reported, is that he thought the women were consenting at the time of the encounters.
The coverage across the outlets is largely consistent on the basic facts: McConnaughty’s age, his location, the use of dating apps, the number of complainants, and the years of the alleged incidents. The reporting focuses on the dispute at the heart of the case—whether consent was present—rather than introducing markedly different details or circumstances.
