Three charges including one of rape against high-profile Sydney man withdrawn during trial

A high-profile Sydney man has had three charges against him – including one count of rape – withdrawn for an undisclosed reason and the complainant will no longer appear before the court.

The complainant who alleged the man had assaulted her three times, which led to the charges, was set to be the sixth and final complainant to appear before the Sydney Downing Centre district court.

The accused, whom Guardian Australia cannot name due to a suppression order, is facing trial after pleading not guilty to 12 charges – which include six counts of rape – alleged to have occurred over a six-year period against six women on separate occasions.

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Following the crown prosecutor Adrian Robertson telling the court there would be no further proceedings against the accused on three charges, the man now faces nine charges, which include five counts of rape.

The withdrawn charges include one count of rape, one act of indecency and one count of assault.

“Put a big line through those charges,” Judge Jane Culver said to the jury. “They are no longer in existence.

“There is no evidence of those matters before you and you must completely put it out of your mind.”

The crown is arguing the man had a tendency to carry out sexual conduct with usually much younger females, knowing that they did not consent or that he was reckless to their consent.

The accused’s defence contends that there was sex with five of the women who have alleged they were raped, including complainant one. However, his defence argues, the sex was consensual, “not in the circumstances alleged by the crown”, and that the complainants “admired the accused, even idolised him”.

The trial continues.