West Indies Cricketer who himself claims as a ‘Universal Boss’, Chris Gayle has been wound up in a controversy after a female massage therapist accused him of flashing. And the woman is identified as Leanne Russel who accused Chris Gayle of exposing himself has completed her evidence at a defamation trial in Sydney and left the courtroom in tears.
Leanne Russell worked as a massage therapist for the West Indies team in 2015, and contacted The Age newspaper last year when she was angered by a TV interview in which Mr. Gayle told a reporter “Don’t blush baby”.
Ms. Russell spoke publicly for the first time today about her claims that Gayle pulled down his towel partially exposing his penis saying it was “horrific”. “I was upset because of what Chris had done because we had known each other for 10 years and jokes of that nature meant nothing to him but they upset me greatly,” Ms. Russell said.
Ms. Russell, an executive assistant for the AFL who had previously worked for Cricket Australia, was giving evidence for Fairfax who is being sued by Gayle over a series of articles about her claims of sexual harassment at Drummoyne Oval on February 11, 2015.
According to what the complainant, Leanne Russel, told the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Gayle exposed himself to her in a dressing room in 2015 while she was working with the West Indies team.
This is the conversation that unfolded at that time, according to the court hearing: “What are you looking for?” asked Gayle. She replied, “I said, ‘a towel’,” and he “pulled his towel out and down”. “I saw the top half of Chris’ penis, I apologize. I thereafter shielded my view. I said no and walked out.”
Mr. Gayle’s barrister Bruce McClintock SC said Ms. Russell was trying to smear his client, a claim she vigorously denied. Ms. Russell left the court in tears after a pointed cross-examination by Mr. McClintock, who questioned her entire recollection of events and at one point used his robes to demonstrate flashing.
Ms. Russell told the court West Indies player Dwayne Smith was also in the room behind Gayle’s left shoulder, “about two feet back”. She described receiving a text message that included the word “sexy” in it from Gayle’s West Indies teammate Dwayne Smith, something Smith agreed during questioning yesterday that he sent.
“My phone sits up while I’m performing the massage. It’s how I keep track of the time,” she said. Ms. Russell said she did not respond and completed the massage. “I felt that the players felt this was funny and had started to gather and attack to either try their luck or intimidate,” she said.
These statements from Russell were heard in the court hearing, that has been scheduled for 10 days, of this defamation case. Gayle has denied the allegations and so has his teammate Dwayne Smith who was present at the spot at that time. Gayle claims that the media house wants to “destroy” him.
According to the media reports, Gayle now “always feels someone is out to get him”, stated his close friend and cricket coach, Donovan Miller. He is scared to be around women.
Sexist, sleazy or both? Whatever it is, @Mel_Mclaughlin handles this exchange with Chris Gayle superbly @henrygayle pic.twitter.com/JQyIUiNV3l
— Auskar Surbakti (@AuskarSurbakti) January 4, 2016
Earlier, Fairfax journalist Chris Barrett said he contacted Cricket Australia, the International Cricket Council and the West Indies Cricket Board, seeking a response to the 2015 allegation from the cricket fraternity. Barrett said a television interview with the Channel 10 journalist Mel McLaughlin in which Gayle said “don’t blush baby” and asked her for a drink “had created a fair bit of controversy”.
He contacted the general manager of the Sydney Sixers, Dominic Remond, who said, “the game itself had missed an opportunity to come down more strongly on Mr. Gayle for his interview with Ms. McLaughlin”. Barrett said Remond told him it was “an opportunity lost” for the game, that was trying to increase its engagement with women.
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