Sex workers in the Australian city of Geelong say they are facing a wave of hostility and abuse after rape allegations against Geelong Cats AFL midfielder Tanner Bruhn dramatically collapsed in court.
Case Collapses After Witness Admits Lying
The case against Bruhn and his co-accused, Patrick Sinnott, unravelled during a committal hearing last month. The pair had been accused of raping a woman in the early hours of February 5, 2023. Prosecutors had alleged the incident occurred after the men met the woman outside the Alley Cats strip club and paid her for sex in a Dan Murphy's car park.
However, the case was dropped immediately after a key witness, Harrison Martin, admitted he had given false evidence. Martin confessed to the court that he had lied to detectives and in the witness box after being instructed by the complainant on what to say. The Office of Public Prosecutions described these admissions as "fatal to the case."
Bruhn, who had been stood down for the entire 2025 AFL season, has always maintained his innocence and is now set to resume training at GMHBA Stadium ahead of the 2026 campaign.
Industry Fallout and Calls for Accountability
In the wake of the case's collapse, local sex workers report being unfairly swept up in the backlash. Lisa Lewis, a legally working OnlyFans creator and escort, is urging the woman at the centre of the discredited case to come forward.
"The right thing for this girl to do now is to come out and own what she's done, for the sake of all the industry girls being targeted and wrongfully accused," Lewis told News Corp. "One bad apple does not mean the whole tree is rotten. I just ask that hate is not directed toward our industry because of what one girl has done."
Lewis explained that she and other online content creators, including those who do not offer in-person services, have received abusive messages since the allegations collapsed. "Because she is an unknown, I and many other industry girls have already had texts in the last 24 hours from media sources and randoms on our work phones and socials asking if it was us," she said.
Broader Implications for Worker Safety
Another escort, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that false allegations make an already dangerous profession even riskier. "It only emboldens violent offenders, of which there are many," she said. "I know girls who have been raped but not believed by police because of our profession. These false claims do not help anyone."
The collapse of the prosecution has ignited a debate about penalties for false allegations and the need for more robust vetting of evidence before charges are laid. In court, it was revealed that the alleged victim had threatened to report Bruhn and Sinnott if she was not paid more money after what was described as consensual sex.
Bruhn's barrister, Dermot Dann KC, labelled the case a "horrible stain on the criminal justice system." While a suppression order protected Bruhn's identity during proceedings, his supporters say his reputation has been significantly damaged both online and within the AFL community.
For now, the immediate concern for sex workers in Geelong is their safety. "We are being bombarded with hate because of someone else's actions," Lewis said. "The woman at the centre of this should come forward so innocent people are not dragged into something they had nothing to do with."
