Ralph Carr once rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in Aussie sport and showbiz.
But now, the manager to the stars is rubbing shoulders with criminals as he sits in jail awaiting sentence for rape.
The 66-year-old has finally been unmasked as the high-profile Melbourne man found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a young woman at his multimillion-dollar home.
The prominent entertainment and sports talent manager – best known as once serving as AFL legend Dustin Martin’s agent and for his marriage to singer Tina Arena – was last Tuesday convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault following a County Court trial.
He now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years for rape.
On Monday, Martin said he immediately cut ties with his former manager.
“I was shocked to learn of the outcome of the court proceedings,” Martin said.
“I had no knowledge whatsoever of the conduct that led to these convictions.
“My thoughts are with those affected. Effective immediately, I have ended my professional relationship with my former manager.
“As this is a legal matter, I will not be making any further comment.”
Carr took advantage of the young woman, forcing himself on her at his Rosslyn St mansion in West Melbourne while she was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine.
She said he initially kissed her and touched her breasts and buttocks. When she pushed him away, he replied: “You are so sexy, I can’t stop.”
Soon after, while she cried into a pillow in the early hours of that March 2023 morning, he raped her twice.
Until now, the Herald Sun has been prohibited from identifying Carr, who was listed in court by his full name Ralph Carnovale-Carr.
The former husband of Aussie songstress Tina Arena has had his identity protected by the courts since he was charged in August 2023.
Carr, 66, has been able to proceed with his case under a cloak of anonymity for three years after being granted a suppression order to protect his mental health and safety.
The order was set to lift upon the verdicts, with Carr earlier telling his psychiatrist that if he was found guilty he should be named on the front page.
But when the verdicts were delivered, his barrister Dermot Dann, KC, applied to extend the gag order.
Tom Silvagni also won a shield of anonymity while facing trial for rape.
“If I’m guilty, put it on the front page,” the County Court earlier heard Carr told his psychiatrist Jacqueline Rakov.
Dr Rakov also gave expert court evidence in support of Silvagni winning a suppression order.
But as with Silvagni, the Herald Sun, and other media outlets, represented by Justin Quill, partner at law firm Thomsons, planned to fight to have the order lifted on Monday.
When the court convened, Carr’s legal team announced he would no longer be pursuing the application.
An unrecognisable Carr, who was without his trademark wig, sat in the County Court dock on Monday.
In a grey prison-issued tracksuit and glasses, Carr looked pale as he leaned forward in his seat.
Mr Dann said Carr would push forward with an application to stay – or delay – his sentence and appeal his conviction as he “maintains his innocence … on the basis of a substantial miscarriage of justice”.
That was because “no jury acting reasonably or rationally” could have arrived at the guilty verdict.
Carr was “relying on his mental health as part of that application,” Mr Dann said.
His case was adjourned for a mention on Friday where a future plea date would be discussed.
Carr, who grew up in North Fitzroy and attended the then-called Alfred Crescent State School, now Fitzroy North Primary, has overseen the careers of musicians, TV personalities and athletes through his Richmond-based company, Ralph Carr Management.
He managed his first wife, Arena, who later opened up in an autobiography about their four-year marriage, her family’s reservations about him and how she felt “disconnected” from him on their wedding day in 1995.
The celebrity agent also shaped the careers of singers Vanessa Amorosi, Jon Stevens and Kate Ceberano, who once said Carr would “take a bullet” for any of his clients.
Other AFL players he managed include Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli while they were with the Tigers. In 2013, then-premier Ted Baillieu made the award-winning businessman an Australia Day ambassador for his contribution to the Australian entertainment industry.
His notoriety saw his lawyers request a bigger than usual jury pool for the empanelment process for his trial to cater for more potential excuses than usual from anyone who might have known him.
But despite his success story in managing the who’s who of the nation for the past 30 years – and his social media being flooded with images of him with everyone from the late cricket legend Shane Warne to country singer Keith Urban and Aussie actors Nicky Whelan and Kate Neilson – Carr cut a lonely figure in his three-week trial.
Each day he attended the court on the corner of Lonsdale and William streets wearing a suit and tie, while carrying his laptop bag, on his own or with his legal team.
The only sign of any support for him came towards the end of the trial when his lawyers called two character references to convince the jury he was a good man who could not have committed such heinous crimes.
The first of those was barrister Marcus Clarke, KC, who met Carr when they both served on the Carlton Football Club board in the early-2000s.
Mr Clarke’s wife, and Carr’s second wife Emma Carr, a former model and swimmer who he had two children with before they split in 2018, also became close.
Asked if he had ever seen Carr “act inappropriately towards women, Mr Clarke replied: “Not at all.” He described his mate as “respectful of everyone”, as well as “very honest and very decent”. “He’s just an honourable character,” Mr Clarke said.
Adrian Marchesani spent more than 22 years working closely with Carr on his executive team. In that time, 1998 to 2020, he never observed him acting inappropriately to his female staff or any woman, Mr Marchesani said.
“He doesn’t have, really, any outside interests, and is very dedicated to the artists because obviously, a manager makes a commission off an artist. So it’s in his best interest to get the best result for the artist.”
Carr has told his legal team he wants to appeal his convictions. But that process cannot begin until after he has been sentenced, which is likely to happen next month.
“We do feel a great miscarriage of justice has occurred,” Mr Dann said.