Alleged rapist claims woman 'made me have sex' with her against Portsmouth court wall, trial hears
An alleged rapist claimed a woman “made me have sex” up against a court building wall, a trial heard.
Mubarak Ibrehim, from Sudan in North Africa who was temporarily living at the Royal Beach Hotel in St Helen’s Parade, Southsea, claimed the alleged victim “took my hand and took off her clothes” before they had sex - despite him being “tired” and wanting to go home.
The 25-year-old is accused of raping the woman in her 20s at the back of Portsmouth Combined Court Centre in Alec Rose Lane - where he is on trial. The incident happened between 3am and 4am on Wednesday, June 11, last year after the pair had both been to Astoria nightclub.
Ibrehim denies charges of rape and voyeurism after he filmed the incident - with him claiming it was to prove he had consent. The defendant also insisted he told the woman about the recording.
The incident happened when the alleged victim left Astoria around 3am with a friend who went to buy drugs from an unknown man. The complainant sat on a kerb around the back of the club as she waited for her friend to return after not wanting to be involved in buying drugs.
Ibrehim, in his interview with police played to Portsmouth Crown Court, said he approached the woman and said hello before asking if she was single, to which she replied “yes” before the conversation continued. “I asked for her number and passed her my phone and she took my number,” he said, speaking through an interpreter.
The defendant told detectives they were “just having some fun” before “she held me and is kissing me”. Asked why they stopped kissing, he replied: “I just took her number and I was leaving.”
Ibrehim then claimed the woman said: “Suddenly she said let’s go to the corner (the court entry point). I said, ‘Which corner?’”
He continued: “I said, ‘I’m going home, my friend’s waiting for me’. She said ‘come’. That’s what happened.”
Asked by officers why he did not just leave if he was tired and had a bad back, Ibrehim said: “How can I have sex with her? Sex was not even in my mind. I live in a hotel, where can I have sex with her?”
When asked if he raped the woman, he said: “She took me to that place. I didn’t rape her.”
He added: “She held my hand and took me to that place. How did I take her there? I did not even know about that place?”
The following day Ibrehim sent the woman Whatsapp messages. After realising who was contacting her, Ibrehim said he was told by the woman: “You hurt me and found me drunk and took advantage.”
But Ibrehim told officers: “How did I hurt her? She was the one who took my hand and took off her clothes and made me have sex.”
Meanwhile, as previously reported, the complainant said of the incident: “He stood up and took my hand and took me into a corner and put my hand down his trousers…I didn’t really know how to react. I just kept my hand there as I didn’t want him to hurt me.”
The woman said she was “grabbed” round her left arm before she was pushed into the court entry area and was was raped against a wall. “He took my trousers and pants down and turned me round against a wall,” she said. “I felt scared (that) if I turned away he would hurt me even more.”
Ibrehim denies rape and voyeurism.
The trial continues.