Trial begins after hotel rape claim
AMAN has gone on trial accused of raping a woman he was sharing a bed with at the Daresbury Park Hotel near Runcorn.
James Stafford, 22, of Highmarsh Crescent, Newton- le- Wi l l ows, denies one count of rape and one of sexual assault over allegations relating to an early morning during 2016.
On Tuesday at Chester Crown Court, prosecuting barrister Nicholas Williams opened the case to the jury of five women and seven men.
He said Stafford, the complainant and another young woman had agreed to share a bed at the hotel following a night out for reasons of practicality and shared cost.
After an evening of drinking and socialising they headed to the hotel where they sat on the bed eating takeaway food.
Mr Williams said the other woman went to bed and the complainant knelt by the toilet feeling sick and Stafford came and held her hair back in case she vomited.
She told him to leave her.
After not being sick she went to bed in her pyjamas.
In a statement to police shown to jurors via video, she said Stafford was in the middle between the women when they went to sleep at around 4.05am.
She said she later awoke to find him assaulting her with one hand around her front in her underwear while she was lying on her side.
Through mounting tears and at times appearing to struggle to recount what had happened, she told the officer that Stafford then committed an act of rape.
She ‘jumped up’ and looked at him.
Stafford pretended to be asleep.
The woman said she went to the bathroom for 10 minutes, packed her belongings and left.
She drove to a car park and contacted a friend, her mother and boyfriend, who later confronted the accused at the hotel, telling him to leave the woman alone and throwing a metal item from the room at him.
The woman went to St Helens Walk-In Centre and received a morningafter pill and rape support centre contact details.
She later contacted Merseyside Police.
Stafford was arrested the next day, denying any sexual activity had taken place.
He said he fell asleep in his boxers and T-shirt, on his side behind the woman with his hand on her side.
During the interview played to jurors, the complainant described the moments after the alleged incident.
She said: “I’ve realised what’s going on and jumped up and turned to face James and he’s rolled onto his back and started pretending he’s snoring, pretending to sleep.
“I jumped up and went to the bathroom.
“I panicked, I didn’t feel comfortable.”
The trial is due to last until Friday.
Before the opening on Tuesday, defence counsel Kim Halsall persuaded His Honour Judge Simon Berkson to approve the admissibility of pieces of evidence regarding prior contact between the defendant and complainant such as Facebook messages and video chat reported to include her in her nightwear and of her in the bath or shower. ●