AFL 2026: Dustin Martin releases statement as ex-manager Ralph Carr named in rape trial after suppression order, court case, latest news

High-profile entertainment and sports manager Ralph Carnovale-Carr can now be unmasked as a rapist after withdrawing a bid for a suppression order.

Carnovale-Carr, 66, was on Tuesday found guilty by a jury on two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault following a two-week trial in Melbourne.

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The high-profile business figure rose to prominence in the 1990s managing singer-songwriter Tina Arena, who he later married for four years, and other artists before moving into sports management where he signed Richmond superstar Dustin Martin as a marquee client.

Ms Arena and Mr Martin have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

"I was shocked to learn of the outcome of the court proceedings," Martin said in a statement released on Monday, according to SEN's Sam Edmund.

"I had no knowledge whatsoever of the conduct that led to these convictions. My thoughts are with those affected.

"Effective immediately, I have ended my professional relationship with my former manager.

"As this is a legal matter, I will not be making any further comment."

News organisations had been barred from naming Carnovale-Carr for more than three years as the case progressed through the courts due to a series of suppression orders.

The orders - made on the same mental health grounds that prevented convicted rapist Tom Silvagni from being identified - were granted after judicial officers accepted evidence Carnovale-Carr's psychological condition would suffer if he was named.

In the final days of the trial, Carnovale-Carr's legal team sought, and were granted, a temporary suppression order preventing publication of his name to allow them time to mount an argument why the order should remain in place.

On Monday, however, they announced they would be dropping the application.

"Your Honour, the position is our client has instructed us not to proceed with the application for the suppression order," Defence barrister Dermot Dann KC said.

Lawyers acting for media organisations had planned to fight the suppression order application.

Previously, a court was told Carnovale-Carr had once commented to his psychiatrist; "If I'm guilty put me on the front page", however Judge Frank Gucciardo cautioned this seemed like a "throwaway line".

Carnovale-Carr reacted emotionally and with visual shock on July 28 as the jury unanimously found him guilty of all charges, throwing himself back in his chair before bowing forward with his mouth open.

Earlier, prior to the jury's return to court, he had been sitting rigidly, with his eyes closed and his hands firmly gripping his thighs.

During the trial, jurors were told Carnovale-Carr raped the woman, several decades his junior, in 2023 after they met at his home to discuss work opportunities, including on an autobiography he was planning.

The pair spent the evening drinking and consuming cocaine, where the woman said she became emotional and confided in him about a relationship breakdown.

She said Carnovale-Carr hugged her and said he would "take care of her", before kissing her and sexually touching her.

Prosecutor Matthew Fisher told the court the woman pushed him away saying; "I don't want this", while Carnovale-Carr was allegedly saying words like; "you're so sexy", "I can't stop" and "I need your help to sleep, help me".

While the woman was crying into a pillow, Carnovale-Carr reached down her pants and penetrated her with his fingers.

He then took off his pants and raped her with his penis before she punched him in the face.

At the conclusion of the trial, Mr Fisher said that while there had been gaps and inconsistencies in the woman's account, she was "consistent and adamant" about what had happened.

Defence barrister Dermot Dann KC told the jury Carnovale-Carr vehemently denied much of the woman's account, from the use of cocaine to prior sexual advances and the sexual assaults.

He argued the woman had a financial motive to lie, pointing to evidence that she had hired lawyers to pursue a civil claim and told her cousin; "I'm going to take this man for all that he's worth".

The jury heard the woman first reached out to Carnovale-Carr via LinkedIn after learning he had a role available at his company Ralph Carr Management.

After Carnvole-Carr raped her, the court was told she stayed at his home for several hours and her mother text messages about what had happened - with her mother urging her to leave and contact the police.

Despite initial reluctance to get police involved, she later changed her mind and reported the rape, with police arriving at Carnovale-Carr's home at about 3.40am.

His legal team have said Carnovale-Carr maintains his innocence and will be both appealing the verdict and seeking a stay of sentence.

"We have a situation where our client maintains his innocence," Mr Dann said.

"He will be appealing his conviction on the basis a substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred."

Carnovale-Carr was taken into custody and is expected to face a pre-sentence hearing later this month.

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