Woman denies lying about rape ordeal
A woman who claims she was raped by two strangers at asylum seekers’ accommodation in Sunderland has denied she “lied” about her ordeal.
Saheed Rasoolli, 30, and Araz Abdulla, 23, are on trial accused of each taking a turn to have sex with the alleged victim, against her will, in the bedroom of a flat at Roker Avenue in Sunderland.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the woman, who said she “couldn’t get her breath” during the attacks, was left with nail marks to her neck, throat and arms.
Both men deny rape and are being tried by a jury.
The alleged victim has told jurors she had been on a date with a man in the hours before she was attacked by the two strangers and had been drinking.
Giving her evidence via television link, the woman said she’d had some pink gin, a fruit cider, a cocktail and two bottles of Desperados beer.
When asked if she normally drank during the day, the woman said “no” and said it was unusual for her to have the amount she did.
The alleged victim admitted she had had a drink that day to “take the edge off ” her nervousness about going on the date, which ended in disappointment.
She denied claims she had sex at the Roker Avenue flat with the two strangers in a bid to make her former date feel “bad”.
Mr O’Brien asked her if she had lied about what happened to make her former date “feel sorry” for her and she replied “no”.
Prosecutor Paul Abrahams has told jurors the woman had been waiting for a bus in the city in May when she was approached by Rasoolli, who had “decided at this early stage he was going to have sex with this female, whatever her views”.
Mr Abrahams said the victim was taken by Rasoolli to a “multi-occupancy building, containing a number of flats occupied by asylum seekers” and into Abdulla’s bedroom, who left the room.
Abdulla,ofRokerAvenue, Sunderland, and Rasoolli, of Hylton Road, Sunderland, both deny an offence of rape.
The trial continues.