Cricket Tasmania recently has alleged that former staffer Renee Ferguson, who had previously reported that former Australian Test captain Tim Paine and four other staff members had sexually harassed her between 2015-17, sent explicit messages to Paine's brother in law.
Ferguson had demanded nearly $1 million from Cricket Tasmania for the alleged harassment she faced by Paine and four other employees. Still, the club has alleged that the latter initiated sexual conversations, as per Federal Court documents.
According to the defence, Ms Ferguson allegedly sent photos appropriate photographs of hers and her partner to the former Australian Test captain's brother-in-law.
The Federal Court documents, Ferguson also sent explicit messages to Mr Tubb, who served as Cricket Tasmania's High-Performance coach. The documents also state that she sent a topless picture of herself besides saying she was 'sore' after a sexual encounter with another guy.
In a series of 1500 messages exchanged between her and Mr Tubb, Ferguson invited the latter to her place with a female friend.
Mr Tubb admitted that it all started with office banter, which soon escalated into sexual message exchanges during non-office hours. However, he also claimed that the sexual messages were consensual.
"Mr Tubb admitted that he and [Ms Ferguson] shared messages but said the messages were mutually exchanged and consensual in nature,' the court documents claimed according to the Daily Mail.
"That [Ms Ferguson] continued her contact with Mr Tubb after she resigned appeared to [Cricket Tasmania] to be inconsistent with her claims to have been sexually harassed by him," the document stated further.
Ferguson had also claimed that she shared her ordeal of sexual allegations with other staff members, but, according to her, they were ignored.
However, Cricket Tasmania stated that her email search history shows no such complaint was made. The club also exonerated Mr Tubb of sexual harassment allegations levied by Ms Ferguson.
Back in November, 2021, Paine stepped down from the leadership position of the Australian Test team in an emotional press conference. Paine had been exonerated from the charges pressed by Ferguson back in 2017, but a news leak ahead of the Ashes proved to be his undoing.