Giving evidence on the first day of the trial of Peter John Brewer, the woman claimed that she told the defendant ‘countless times’ to stop as she lay drunk on a bed at the St Helier property.
After the alleged rape, the 45-year-old defendant, who denies the charge, drove home at 5.39 am and texted the complainant, asking if she was okay.
The woman replied: ‘I am wadded [wasted] How many times does no mean no?’
She later sent a text which read: ‘You practically raped me last night.’
Crown Advocate Conrad Yates, prosecuting, asked the woman why she had used the word ‘practically’.
She replied: ‘Because you don’t think of rape being like that. You think of it being in the street and someone pulls you off the street. I had to get a lot of my friends to say: “Come on [complainant’s name] he has raped you”. No means no and I said no so many times.’
Asked how she initially felt about reporting the incident to the police, the woman added: ‘I felt bad. I felt like in a way it was my fault because I did not scream.’
Following an examination by the force’s medical examiner it was determined that the complainant was three times over the legal drink-drive limit – having consumed wine, beer and Buckfast – before the alleged rape. She had also been smoking cannabis. Traces of the anti-anxiety drug Valium were found in her blood.
Opening the Crown’s case, Advocate Yates told the jury of nine women and three men that the case was about consent and, essentially, it was the alleged victim’s word against the defendant’s as they were the only two in the room at the time.
He said: ‘I can tell you that this is not the sort of rape where a woman is pulled into an alleyway by a man. It is not the sort of case where there are threats of violence.
‘You might think these are the types of case that immediately spring to mind when rape is mentioned. But I urge you not to approach this trial with prejudices about what rape is. The facts in this case are different.’
The court heard that the alleged victim, the defendant and numerous others had been enjoying a house party on the night of the alleged incident.
States police officers were called to the scene twice following noise complaints and on the second occasion those who remained at the party went upstairs to limit the noise. It was then, the jury heard, that the woman and Mr Brewer had ended up in a bedroom together alone.
Crown Advocate Yates asked the woman if she had ever done anything to encourage Mr Brewer to have sexual relations with her.
‘No, I kept telling him to stop [when he was trying to kiss and touch her],’ she replied.
‘He said: “No, I’m not stopping until I have finished”. I could not believe this was happening. I felt like I was not there.’
Crown Advocate Yates then asked: ‘Do you remember trying to stop him?’
‘I remember saying no to him countless times,’ the woman replied.
The trial continues.
