A MAN accused of raping a “naïve” and “frightened” woman in his “claustrophobic” bedsit just three days after matching with her on a dating app has appeared before the Royal Court.

Speaking during the opening of Ian Michael Agostini’s trial yesterday, the prosecution said that a female Islander had been left “shaking” in the Emergency Department after being allegedly subjected to approximately 30 minutes of “rushed” non-consensual sexual activity at the defendant’s St Helier flat last year.

It was heard that the 31-year-old “came across as friendly” over a series of text conversations held on Tinder and Instagram prior to the alleged sexual offences.

Crown Advocate Christina Hall, prosecuting, told the court that the two then arranged a meeting for the “naïve and sexually inexperienced victim to talk to and get to know” Mr Agostini, during which he raped her while showing “complete indifference” to whether she had consented to sex.

Wearing a blue suit, the defendant appeared for the opening of a jury trial expected to last four days.

Mr Agostini denies two counts of rape, two counts of sexual penetration without consent and a single count of sexual touching without consent.

Advocate Hall told jurors that the alleged victim had matched with the defendant on Tinder, having only recently downloaded the app.

It was heard that the two enjoyed “pleasant” conversation for three days before agreeing to meet at Mr Agostini’s flat.

Advocate Hall said: “You will hear how [the complainant] was sexually inexperienced – she had never had sexual intercourse before – and when she visited the defendant that night, she was expecting to just talk and get to know him.

“On the other hand, the Crown’s case is that the defendant was sexually experienced, or at least sexually active. He was older than [the complainant]. He had profiles on networking sites where like-minded people would actively seek out casual sexual encounters.

“The day that he met her, the Crown says he was viewing pornography throughout the day, as well as messaging [the complainant].

“Contrary to how she was thinking about having sexual activity, it was very much at the forefront of his mind when he met her.”

It was heard that Mr Agostini began kissing the woman immediately after she arrived and sat down on his bed, which was the “only available” seat in his bedsit.

Advocate Hall told the court that Mr Agostini proceeded to engage the defendant in “progressively more intimate” acts, before “pushing her” onto the bed and raping her.

She added that all five sexual offences occurred in a window of less than 30 minutes.

Jurors heard that the complainant left the flat “immediately” after the intercourse, before telling her friend over the phone that she had been sexually assaulted. The “highly distressed” complainant subsequently took herself to the Emergency Department, during which she “sat in the corner shaking”, Advocate Hall said.

While she was at the Hospital, the court was told that Mr Agostini sent her a message, saying: “Nice to meet you, sorry it was kind of rushed aha.”

The defendant was arrested later that night on suspicion of rape, and gave a no-comment interview to the police on 21 February.

Jurors were then played a full interview recorded with the complainant two days after the alleged rape.

She told investigators during the interview that she had “kind of froze” when Mr Agostini began touching her as she sat on his bed.

“I kind of froze, because I didn’t know what to do. I was kind of stuck,” she said.

“He pushed me onto the bed and that is when he started to have sex with me.

“I was saying ‘please, stop’ but I couldn’t get the words out loud enough for him. I just couldn’t.”

She described feeling “claustrophobic” and “tense” inside Mr Agostini’s “dark” and “small” St Helier bedsit.

“I was very shaky and I felt very sick,” she added. “I felt like I was paralysed, because I just couldn’t move and I couldn’t do anything.

“I couldn’t even think straight, I didn’t know what to say or anything. I sort of wished I’d pushed him off or something, but in that moment I just didn’t know what to think.”

The complainant said she told Mr Agostini she “had to go” as he was allegedly raping her, but that this did not stop him from continuing.

She told the investigator: “I [then] got downstairs as fast as I could and as soon as I left, I rang my friend straight away.

“I can’t remember the exact words, but I said something along the lines of: ‘He’s done something to me, and I don’t know what to do’.”

Deputy Bailiff Mark Temple is presiding. The trial continues today.