Businessman who went home with a woman after a night out and then sexually assaulted her HOUSEMATE blames the attack on cocaine
- A Work-Shop co-founder was found guilty of sexual assault and indecent assault
- Matthew Branagan will sentenced next month over the October 2017 assault
- Took cocaine before meeting a woman and housemates at a Newtown pub
- Woman later awoke to Branagan naked in her bed, trying to sexually assault her
A Sydney businessman who went home with a woman after a night out but then crept out of her room to sexually assault her housemate has blamed the attack on cocaine.
Matthew Branagan, co-founder of popular art centre Work-Shop, will be sentenced next month after a NSW District Court jury found him guilty of sexual assault and indecent assault.
The court heard Branagan met a woman with her housemates at the Bank Hotel in Newtown on the night of October 7, 2017, according to court documents seen by the Sydney Morning Herald.
The pair headed back to the granny flat where the woman lived in behind the share house shortly after 3am, where they slept together.
Work-Shop co-founder Matthew Branagan (pictured) will be sentenced next month
Branagan told the woman he had to go to share house to get his phone which had been charging and to use the toilet, according to court documents.
He climbed up the side of the house and through the lounge room window and went into the woman's roommate's bedroom, who awoke to to find Branagan naked in her bed, attempting to sexually assault her.
The woman, who cannot be named, repeatedly told him to stop and was told by Branagan he was 'not getting it up' because of the cocaine he had taken earlier in the night, according to court documents.
She told Branagan to leave, who went back to her housemate's granny flat.
A formal complaint about Branagan was made to police the next day.
He was charged with four offences several days later after police found Branagan's DNA throughout the home.
'[The accused] was very apologetic … and constantly blamed his drug use. [The accused] claimed he was not well and needed help. [The accused] continued to phone and text the complainant,' court documents stated.
Branagan met the woman and her housemates at the Bank Hotel in Newtown (pictured)
A popular art studio, Work-Shop took to social media at the time to address the charges against its co-founder.
'We want to make it very clear that the allegations as they stand against Mr Branagan are utterly contemptible and completely at odds with the values and ethos that Work-Shop and its employees have worked so hard to strive for,' a Facebook post read.
Work-Shop is a brand synonymous with community spirit, acceptance, honesty, tolerance and respect. We do not stand by his actions in any way.
'The allegations against Mr Branagan, albeit done outside of the business, breach all those tenets and we now must allow the judicial process to take its course.'
Branagan will be sentenced on August 15.
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