Student ‘raped by a friend she invited into bed’
‘Locked herself in her bathroom’
A UNIVERSITY student accused a friend of raping her after a night of drinking ended with her waking up on top of him, a court heard yesterday. The woman had invited Joshua Lines, 23, to stay at her halls of residence after they drank beer and prosecco at a student party, a jury was told.
It was a platonic relationship, the court heard, and the woman said they fell asleep in bed together watching the film Lady and the Tramp. She claimed she woke up several hours later to find her pyjama bottoms pulled down while he was having sex with her.
Prosecuting, Justin Hayhoe said: ‘She trusted him, and at that time had no reason not to. There was no problem letting her friend stay and she thought she would never have her hospitality abused in the manner that it was.’
On the night in November 2014, they spent an hour and a half at the party before returning to her room, Manchester Crown Court heard. In a video statement, the woman said she had three beers before and during the party. She also shared a bottle of prosecco with Lines.
She added: ‘I remember everything that happened and I know I was not drunk.’
At the flat, she changed into her pyjamas in the bathroom, returning to find the former student in her bed. She said she put a film on and they had ‘ cuddled’ but that was ‘nothing unusual’. They then fell asleep. In a statement to police, the woman, who attended Manchester University, said: ‘I think my laptop fell on the floor and that is what woke me up, I was on the top of him and he was having sex with me.’
She said she locked herself in her ensuite bathroom for several hours until she was sure he had left the room. When Lines tried to speak to her but got no response he sent her a Facebook message saying, ‘What’s happened,’ to which she replied: ‘I don’t want anything to do with you.’ The woman added: ‘I woke up and I was in shock and I started crying, initially he froze.
‘Josh came to the door and tried speaking to me and when I left the bathroom he had gone.’
She told police she went to her family home shortly afterwards but on her return to Manchester decided she had to ‘do something’ about the incident.
Mr Hayhoe said: ‘ The two fall asleep and the next she wakes up with him raping her. She has no idea how it is she came to be in that position.’
He said the pair had a platonic relationship and while the woman knew Lines was attracted to her, he had previously respected the fact she did not reciprocate his feelings.
Mr Hayhoe said Lines, from Wigan, told police his accuser had been ‘flirting’ earlier in the evening and was ‘quite drunk’. Lines claimed he awoke to find her on top of him. Mr Hayhoe said: ‘ He has no idea whether they were having sex or not. He says when he woke up he felt sick and went outside and fell asleep outside.’ Under cross-examination the woman was asked how the alleged manhandling of her body had not woken her up. She said: ‘At no point in the evening were we so drunk we were out of it.’
But defence lawyer Brian McKenna said: ‘You had both consumed more alcohol than you say.
‘You and Joshua after a night out ended up in bed together and before you went to sleep there was an element of cuddling.
‘ In drink did things happen which you decided you didn’t want and then shouted rape?’
Lines denies rape. The trial continues.