Disgraced UK Agent Ralph Carr Appeals Rape Conviction

Disgraced Australian sports and entertainment manager Ralph Carr has appealed his convictions and sentence for rape and sexual assault.

Carr lodged the appeal on Tuesday, after a close friend of the former agent-to-the-stars told Our News Outlet that he was certain to challenge the conviction.

However, Carr is highly unlikely to have the appeal heard before the end of the year, meaning he is expected to spend Christmas in custody.

Prosecuted under his full name, Ralph Carnovale-Carr, he was found guilty by a jury of raping a woman multiple times at his warehouse home in Melbourne’s west in March 2023.

He appeared via videolink from Melbourne Assessment Prison at the Melbourne County Court on August 25, when he was sentenced to a maximum of six years in jail.

Known for his flamboyant clothing and wig, Carr appeared on screen bald, clean-shaven and dressed in prison greens after being convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The former showbiz high-flyer unsuccessfully sought a stay of sentence at his plea hearing in what was described as a last-ditch bid for freedom. For now, he remains in Melbourne Assessment Prison while facing a potentially lengthy wait for his appeal to be heard.

Top barrister Dermot Dann KC represented Carr in the stay application, telling the court that the guilty verdicts were the “most obvious miscarriage of justice” he had witnessed in more than three decades as a lawyer.

“In my view, he should not have been found guilty,” Mr Dann told the court in August.

Mr Dann had previously told the court that Carr maintained his innocence, prompting the defence to pursue the unusual application to halt his sentence.

The prominent criminal barrister also said the public exposure of his client’s identity had affected his mental health, contributing to suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety.

Carr had been protected by a suppression order before the guilty verdict was delivered.

“For someone who maintains innocence, this is a terrible, terrible situation,” Mr Dann said.

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The court heard that Carr, who was once married to pop star Tina Arena, harmed himself by repeatedly banging his head against a wall shortly after the conviction.

Carr was found guilty of raping the woman at his Melbourne home during the early hours of March 24, 2023, after she became upset while discussing the end of a relationship.

He hugged her before kissing her and touching her breasts, waist and buttocks as she attempted to push him away.

When she told him to stop, Carr told her he couldn’t because she was ‘so sexy’ before raping her twice while she cried into a pillow. 

The woman did not submit a victim impact statement to the court.

Judge Frank Gucciardo refused the stay application before he denounced Carr’s offending as being ‘very serious’.

‘Your conduct was appalling,’ Judge Gucciardo said.

‘Rape is a crime of violence, this was committed by you in an egregious breach of trust and predatory opportunistic upon a young woman who had admired and had reposed a significant amount of trust in you as a… friend.

‘You took advantage of her at a point in time when she was not only intoxicated but vulnerable and in need of comfort and at a point in which she looked for you for care and support.

‘It was at that point, instead you chose to abuse that trust in the most abhorrent manner.’

Carr helped launch the careers of Vanessa Amorosi and Kate Ceberano and managed some of Australia’s most well-known figures including Richard Wilkins and footballer Dustin Martin.

Judge Gucciardo agreed Carr’s career was over and he considered it to be ‘extracurricular punishment’.

Carr was jailed for a maximum of six years with a minimum of four years.