How a young woman fell into the grips of old celebrity agent Ralph Carr and his gift of the gab and a habit of getting what he wanted

By WAYNE FLOWER, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 06:05, 4 August 2026 | Updated: 06:05, 4 August 2026 Wine, cocaine, a game of AFL footy and an old sleaze bag celebrity agent in the company of a much younger woman. Whatever could go wrong did.  If you ask Ralph Carr though, it was all a bit 'ho hum'. This was a 63-year old bloke who had been married to Australian music sensation Tina Arena when she was in the prime of her career in the 1990s.   He had remained active in the entertainment industry all the way up until he was locked up on Friday.  Carr had represented A-listers like Kate Ceberano and Richard Wilkins and was famous for his business associations as agent for AFL champion Dustin Martin, hit singer Vanessa Amorosi and Pseudo Echo. He claimed to the bitter end he didn't touch his young victim.  It simply didn't happen, he said, he'd had a sleepy old night on the couch.   On March 23, 2023, he'd invited the young woman over to his pad.  Ralph Carr, now aged 66, had previously wanted a piece of his victim and got what he wanted, a court heard  She'd described his Rosslyn Street warehouse in West Melbourne as 'larger than life'. It had a sauna, an extensive wine collection, a glass office and a grand piano. During Carr's County Court of Victoria trial, the jury heard his victim had a fair idea he might make a move on her that night.  A year earlier he had made a pass at her on his couch while consuming alcohol and cocaine, The Age reported. This time round, Carr stuck to his tried and tested playbook.   She arrived at Carr’s home in sporting attire. The pair then selected a bottle of red wine from the cellar before moving to the lounge room, where the woman claimed Carr racked-up some lines of cocaine. He  then went and showered while the woman took photographs around his house.  Former Tigers legend Dustin Martin and Ralph Carr in 2017 When he came back, the woman remembered he wreaked of cologne. She would later tell police they continued to swill wine and snort drugs before driving to another mate's house to watch the footy - as is the style of the rich and famous.  If Carr thought he was in for some action, he had a funny way of showing it - if you believe his barrister Dermot Dann KC, and the jury certainly didn't.  During his closing address he claimed the woman placed her hand on Carr's upper thigh, but he was 'observed to be showing absolutely no interest'. He was also said to be falling asleep and had to be roused by his friend so he could drive home. Mr Dann said Carr in fact had urged the woman to go home and offered to call her an Uber, but 'she seemed determined to stay'. The prosecution told the jury they arrived back at Carr’s home about 10.30pm and sat on a green lounge, listening to music before moving to his bedroom. The woman became upset over a broken relationship and Carr consoled her, but when he began to kiss her she pushed him away. Ralph Carr and his barrister Dermot Dann KC. Mr Dann says the jury flatout got it wrong  'He kept coming back. Putting his hands all over me. He didn’t care that I was crying,' she told police. It was then, the woman said Carr raped her.  The woman claimed she tried to push him off and told him to stop. 'I don't want this,' the woman told him. Prosecutor Matt Fisher told the jury that Carr then said, 'You are so sexy,' and, 'I can't stop, I need your help to sleep, help me.' The jury heard the pair remained on the bed but separated, with the woman holding a pillow against her chest and quietly crying under the blanket. Carr then pulled the blanket off her and penetrated her with his finger, the jury accepted. The court heard the woman 'did not respond' when she felt Carr's hand and closed her eyes. Ralph Carr was accustomed to living the high life and getting what he wanted when he wanted  She heard and felt him removing his pants, before feeling him penetrate her with his penis.  The woman called her mother about what had happened, and her mum immediately phoned police. The victim stayed at the address, but said she locked herself in another room.  When police arrived at about 3.45am, they described Carr as a 'very charming and charismatic man' who spent most of the time talking about the football. Mr Dann maintained Carr was innocent and told the jury the woman was an unreliable witness who had a financial motive to lie, indicating to others that she intended to seek monetary compensation. 'What the prosecution has served up to you is a horrible mixture of lies, fabrications, recent inventions, inconsistencies, and evidence that had been proved to be demonstrably false,' Mr Dann said. But after listening to all the evidence in the two-week trial, the jury of nine women and three men took three days to reach their guilty verdicts.  Tina Arena with Ralph Carr in 1996 Carr was immediately taken into custody for sentencing on a date to be fixed. Mr Dann insists the jury has got it wrong and has asked the judge to hold fire in sentencing Carr so he can drum up an appeal.  'We’re so deeply disturbed by the verdicts that we feel compelled to do so,' he said.  'We will also be relying on his mental health as part of that application.' Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.