WARNING: Graphic content.
In his first public comments since being acquitted of raping Saxon Mullins, Luke Lazarus has discussed the night of the incident and hit out at the media.
Mr Lazarus was accused of raping Ms Mullins in an alleyway behind his father's Kings Cross nightclub in 2013.
Mr Lazarus was initially found guilty but the NSW District Court acquitted him because the judge found he had a genuine and honest belief that Ms Mullins had consented to sex, even though Ms Mullins "in her own mind" had not consented. Ms Mullins was 18 and a virgin at the time.
The case made headlines earlier this month when Ms Mullins waived her legal right to anonymity and spoke to the ABC's Four Corners program about her ordeal.
In an interview on Thursday with 2GB, Mr Lazarus said he initially "intended on staying silent on this".
"However, after Four Corners purposely did not represent the facts the way that the judge found them, I felt that I had to come on and give my side of the story."
He said it was "reasonable" for him to believe that Ms Mullins had consented to having sex with him, adding that the ABC had "painted me as a guilty man getting away with a crime".
Mr Lazarus said Ms Mullins "didn't use the word explicitly, 'yes' but that it was 'a case of body language' ... "Her physical body language and everything she did physically told me she wanted to be there."
But he said he "felt terrible for what (Ms Mullins) has been through".
"I think that this whole night's regrettable. At the end of the day, I've been found innocent."
Ms Mullins appeared on Four Corners in the hope that it will lead to reform of NSW sexual consent laws and a better understanding of the nature of consent.
"I just did it. At that point, I was just kind of on autopilot a little bit. I just wanted to go. And this was kind of the quickest way I thought I could leave. I just thought, 'just do what he says and then you can go'," she recalled on the program.
"I thought that once I left the alleyway, all the pain would go away. But it didn't leave me for weeks … I know a part of me died that day."
Sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling is available 24-hours a day through 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Additional reporting: AAP
