Just when Shane Warne thought his week could not get any worse a 17-year-old girl appeared in court yesterday claiming that the Test bowler had tongue kissed her last year and asked her to expose her breasts.
The court appearance followed claims at the weekend by Helen Cohen Aron, a 45-year-old South African, that Warne had pestered her with salacious text messages.
While the allegations about Warne’s behaviour to the girl were being outlined in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, the Australian Test captain, Steve Waugh, said the bowler was a victim of “enemies in the media”.
“I feel for Shane and what’s happened,” he said. “He’s human, he makes mistakes, and I think he pays for his pretty heavily. I certainly support Shane and his family.”
In Johannesburg, Ms Cohen Alon told the Herald last night: “I will be flying to Sydney very soon and I think people will be surprised when they hear what I have to say.”
In court, Aleasha Black said that last year, when she was a year 10 TAFE student aged 16, she was with two friends at the Gold Coast when she saw a small crowd gathering around Warne’s silver Audi convertible with teammate Brett Lee in the passenger seat.
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“I knew who they were because I’ve seen them on TV,” she said. When she told the pair they had “better win the match on Sunday”, Warne allegedly said: “F— you’re beautiful. Follow us.”
Ms Black and her two friends had then followed the cricketers by car to a nearby hotel. When Warne had asked Ms Black to approach his car, she claims he asked for her mobile phone number.
Ms Black says she asked Warne for “a kiss good night . . . Shane turned around and then said, ‘Yeah, all right’. I then put my head in the car and put my left cheek towards his face.” She had expected a kiss on the cheek.
“As I did this, Shane grabbed the side of my face and stuck his tongue down my throat. I did kiss him back but this only lasted for about 30 seconds, until I eventually pulled away.” Ms Black said she did not smell alcohol on Warne’s breath.
Later, he allegedly asked her to “show us your tits; come on, give us a look”.
Her mother, Debbie Kent, had afterwards told her “very shocked” and “scared” daughter that “this would teach me to talk to strangers”.
Ms Black was giving evidence in a case in which her uncle, Gold Coast businessman Christopher Kent, 46, is contesting allegations that he tried to blackmail the Australian Cricket Board, now known as Cricket Australia, for $5000 after the alleged kiss.
The magistrate, Julian Fitz-Gerald, is expected to decide after submissions today whether there is sufficient evidence to commit Kent to trial
