A WOMAN wept as she told a court how she had been stripped and subjected to an intimate search by a man who thought she had been sleeping with a work colleague.
At the start of a trial expected to last five days, Elliot Gomes (39) pleaded not guilty to one count of grave and criminal assault, three further assault charges, one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice and a final charge of domestic abuse.
The court heard that Mr Gomes and the woman had begun regularly injecting liquid cocaine within a few months of meeting.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said that around six months after they first met, Gomes slapped the woman with the back of his hand, causing her to fall down the stairs.
Advocate Carvalho characterised the pair’s interactions as a “toxic blend of drink and drugs, resulting in significant police involvement”.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman described how she had started a new job, which caused tension with Mr Gomes.
The court was told that Mr Gomes made his alleged victim strip and then checked her body before initiating sex, during which he accused her of sleeping with her colleague.
Later in the victim’s evidence, she said she had been pressurised by Mr Gomes not to go to work, after which he had chased her around her flat and “body-slammed” her in a hallway, causing her to hit her head on the bathroom door. He then sat in front of the front door to prevent her leaving.
The woman was assaulted again, Advocate Carvalho added, after an argument resulting from an accusation by Mr Gomes that the woman had deleted pictures from his mobile phone.
The court heard that after the woman made a formal complaint against Mr Gomes, she later withdrew the allegation after he had pressurised her to do so.
Advocate Carvalho told the court that at one stage Mr Gomes had continued to contact the alleged victim in spite of a court order that he should not do so, and that on several occasions he denied assaulting her by saying that had he done so, she would have been killed or seriously injured.
The woman described her treatment as a “violent rampage” and said that Mr Gomes had “completely ruined” her life.
The court heard that the instances of reported abuse carried out by Mr Gomes included isolating the woman from others, examining her mobile phone, accusing her of being overweight, refusing to leave her property, demanding sex and threatening to rape her.
Commissioner John Saunders is presiding at the trial, with Jurats Entwistle and Opfermann sitting. It is expected to last for the rest of the week.
