Two men previously jailed for the gang rape of three teenagers during a bachelor party weekend are set to face a retrial, while a third man has been acquitted following successful appeals against their convictions.

Maurice Hawell, 31, his brother Marius, 24, and Andrew David, 31, were originally convicted of sexually assaulting three women in a 2024 trial that spanned nearly four weeks.

The jury had found that the group targeted their teenage victims over two nights in February 2022. The assaults took place at an Airbnb in Newcastle, where the men had gathered for a bachelor party ahead of Maurice’s wedding.

The men challenged their convictions, claiming that the trial judge had made several errors in instructing the jury, and argued that the verdicts were not justified.

Today, the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled in favor of the accused, overturning the convictions for all three. As a result, Maurice and Marius Hawell will face a retrial, while Andrew David has been acquitted.

Justice Belinda Rigg ordered Maurice Hawell and David face a retrial in the NSW District Court.

The convictions against Marius Hawell were dismissed and verdicts of acquittal entered in their place.

Maurice Hawell had been jailed for 14 years, David for 13 years and Marius nine years.

After having consensual sex on a Friday night, two 18-year-old victims told the jury they went to retrieve their phones from a darkened bedroom where they were pushed onto the bed, stripped and “swarmed” by naked men.

Outlining who performed which sexual assault was impossible because the room was dark and the men were convicted as part of a joint criminal enterprise to rape and sexually touch the women.

On the following night, a 19-year-old told the jury she entered the apartment after being pressured to join for drinks, but she was raped by Maurice Hawell and David, who took turns swapping sexual positions.

Marius Hawell came into the room and watched, the jury was told, and was not accused of participating in penetrative sex on the first night.

During the appeal in August, the men’s lawyers claimed the jury may have been led to misinterpret the trio’s state of mind over the weekend of offending.

Tim Game SC said the evidence may have been misconstrued as a “shared job” or a “job for the lot” when considered all together for each man, leading to an unreasonable verdict.

“It has a sinister element because it turns consensual sex into the threat of non-consensual sex and there’s absolutely nothing to support that proposition,” David’s barrister said.

David and Maurice Hawell will return to the NSW District Court on December 12.

His younger brother can be immediately released from prison.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028