Officer ‘ignored pleas to stop rape’
A SERVING police officer accused of raping a woman ignored her repeated pleas for him to stop, a court heard.
James Geoghegan, 27, is said to have carried out the attack on December 12, 2018. He denies the charge.
Yesterday, jurors at Chelmsford Crown Court heard the victim returned home in Loughton, Essex, with Geoghegan at around 3am after they had been drinking and he had wanted to stay the night.
The court heard that he followed the woman into her room “uninvited” as she was undressing.
Wayne Cleaver, prosecuting, told the court Geoghegan from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, tried to take off the victim’s pyjama bottoms.
She did not want it to go further and told him to stop several times. He raped her in her bed, the court was told.
The jury heard that following the incident, when the woman asked Geoghegan: “Do you remember me asking you to stop?” he replied: “Yes, I thought you were just playing around.”
Mr Cleaver said: “Clearly he heard her say ‘no’, he had heard her indicate that she didn’t want to have sex with him and he also acknowledged that she had indeed pulled her shorts back up when he first pulled them down.”
In text messages between the pair later that day, the victim told Geoghegan: “I’m upset James because I said no multiple times, but you carried on.”
Mr Cleaver went on to say: “The prosecution case is simple, (the victim) said ‘no’ and (the victim) said ‘stop’ and that is exactly what she meant.
“He accepted in the living room and later in messages that he heard her say it more than once, but he took no notice.
“He disregarded her limits and decided instead to press on.”
The trial continues.