He then allegedly offered to introduce her to the DJ before saying instead they would go into a VIP area.

But he then allegedly took the woman to the laneway where he allegedly raped her before demanding she put her name in his phone.

A string of prominent people,including Waverley mayor Sally Betts,the honorary secretary of the Honorary Consulate-General of Greece in Brisbane,Tsambico K Athanasas and South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club chairman Nick Pappas had provided references for Lazarus,unanimously declaring their shock at his conviction and vouching for his good character.

The court upheld Lazarus'argument,made by Tim Game,SC,that District Court Judge Sarah Huggett misdirected the jury before they retired to consider their verdict on the issue of whether Lazarus believed the woman had consented to sex or not.

Judge Huggett had told the jury that it needed to decide whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that the woman had consented to having sex with Lazarus.

This direction was inconsistent with the law,Mr Game said.

Instead,the jury should have been told that they needed to decide whether the accused in fact had a"reasonable belief"at the time of the incident that the young woman had consented to sex.

Justice Clifton Hoeben,Justice Elizabeth Fullerton and Justice Michael Adams unanimously agreed the conviction should be quashed and a retrial ordered.