A FORMER restaurant owner raped and assaulted a woman and attacked another, jurors in the Royal Court heard yesterday.
Gavin Neil Roberts (44), who previously ran the now closed Shinzo Restaurant in St Aubin, is accused of committing multiple offences against the women during the course of a year.
He denies two counts of common assault against one woman, and grave and criminal assault, rape and two counts of sexual penetration without consent against the other. He has admitted two charges of grave and criminal assault against the second woman.
Outlining the case, Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, said that Mr Roberts would often commit the offences while drunk.
“Grabbing women round the neck is something of a habit for the defendant,” Advocate Maletroit told jurors.
He added that the sexual offences were “depraved acts, which involved the defendant taking advantage of [the alleged victim] when she was at her most vulnerable”.
“These offences were committed in circumstances of serious violence, against a woman who was in no position to defend herself,” the advocate said.
At the time of some of the alleged crimes, Mr Roberts was the owner of Shinzo, and Crown Advocate Maletroit described how the pressures of running a restaurant led him to drink too much.
On multiple occasions, it is alleged that Mr Roberts assaulted the woman by grabbing her by the neck, but not strangling her, giving rise to two charges of common assault.
Describing one of the alleged offences against the second victim, Crown Advocate Maletroit said CCTV showed the defendant and the alleged victim outside a nightclub, taking shelter from the rain.
“He grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against the door,” he said.
“He also struck her several times to the head, while continuing to be verbally abusive.
“This assault left [the victim] with visible injuries to her neck and a sore head.”
During the alleged rape, the woman was said to have been incapacitated, lying on a bed, when Mr Roberts assaulted and raped her, the court heard.
Crown Advocate Maletroit said: “It is the prosecution case that the defendant saw this as an opportunity to take full advantage of her and use her for his own sexual gratification however he pleased.”
The two alleged victims’ reports to the police were made independently of one another, the court heard.
The Bailiff, Sir Timothy Le Cocq, is presiding. The trial is scheduled to last another five days.
