A ROYAL Court jury has heard tearful allegations from a woman of being taken back to a bedsit in St Helier and raped after a night out.
Adelino Moreira (65) pleaded not guilty to one count of rape yesterday at the start of a trial stemming from an incident in 2023.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said the alleged victim had spent an evening with friends in which she had consumed a glass of sangria, two shots and at least two vodkas with a mixer, with the effect magnified by the fact that she rarely drank alcohol due to being on medication.
The court heard that after spending the early part of the evening at an event in town, the woman had gone home briefly and then met back up with them at a St Helier nightclub.
Advocate Carvalho said that during the later part of the evening, the alleged victim had met Mr Moreira.
Mr Moreira had offered to look after the woman when she became unwell, the court was told, subsequently taking her back to his bedsit.
The woman wept as she told the court that she had no memory after arriving at the property until around 5am when she became aware that Mr Moreira was on top of her and was raping her.
The jury was told that the woman had subsequently told a friend what had happened four days later, but that she had not shared this information with her husband until more than two months later, when the couple encountered Mr Moreira by chance while they were out.
Advocate Carvalho said it was the Crown’s contention that the woman had not consented to sex with Mr Moreira, and that she was incapable of giving consent because she was asleep when he had instigated the sexual activity.
Cross-examined by Advocate Rui Tremoceiro, representing Mr Moreira, how she was sure she had not consented when she did not remember large parts of the evening, the woman said: “There’s no way I would have done that, I was a married woman… until he ruined my life.”
Advocate Tremoceiro said that his client’s case was that the woman had encouraged Mr Moreira to take her back to his home, at which point she had undressed and got into his bed, later initiating sexual activity. The woman denied this version of events.
The trial is anticipated to last four or five days, with the Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, presiding.
