Man (41) raped two women after they went to his flat on night out, court told

TWO friends were allegedly raped after agreeing to go back to a flat during a night out in Belfast, the High Court has heard.

One of them, aged 19, was held in the bathroom for up to two hours and only managed to escape by biting her suspected attacker, prosecutors claimed.

Police discovered the second woman as she ran sobbing from the apartment in the early hours of November 25.

Details emerged as a 41-year-old man accused of sex attacks on both of them applied for bail.

Turkish national Orhan Kibar, of Claremont Street in south Belfast, denies three counts of rape and a further count of false imprisonment.

The two women were allegedly approached by him as they left the Students Union at Queen’s University and agreed to go back to his flat.

One of the pair told police that after they arrived at the address he followed her into the bathroom as she used the toilet. According to her account he took her clothes off before raping her.

Crown lawyer Adrian Higgins contended: “The attack continued for between one to two hours.

“She stated the male would not let her leave the bathroom, physically restrained her and she had to bite the male to get him off.”

The woman then allegedly fled after a check of the living room failed to locate her friend.

She ran to the nearby Bradbury Place area where police were alerted and directed to the apartment block.

Mr Higgins said that as officers headed to the flat the second woman came running down the corridor in a distressed state.

“She was crying with mascara running down her face, her jeans were unfastened and she was shouting ‘He has raped me, there’s a rapist in there’,” the barrister submitted.

In her account to police the woman claimed she had fallen asleep on a bed, waking up to discover she was being raped.

“She said she was very scared and thought she was going to die,” Mr Higgins added.

He told the court injuries were noted on both women, with one of them claiming she was kicked and hit during her alleged ordeal.

During interviews Kibar denied raping either complainant, or locking one of them in his bathroom, insisting anything that happened was consensual.

Defence counsel Sean O’Hare argued that his client led a “blameless life” since coming to Northern Ireland ten years ago.

“It seems the complainants have voluntarily gone back to the applicant’s apartment without any force or exploitation being used to get them back,” he said.

“There’s no suggestion they were falling down drunk, and they spent a considerable amount of time in this flat, seemingly without drawing the attention of any neighbours.”

Mr O’Hare told the court Kibar is bipolar, suffers from schizophrenia and has other medical complaints, including heart problems and diabetes.

Adjourning the bail application, Mr Justice Burgess requested more medical information and an update on forensic evidence in the case.