Woman testifies that boyfriend raped, kidnapped her
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A woman testified Tuesday that she was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend, who then bound her with duct tape and drove her around in a minivan for hours, with their children in the car, before she was able to persuade him to free her.
Her testimony came in the first day of the trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court of Calvin McDonald, 31, of Monroeville. Mr. McDonald is charged with criminal attempt to murder, kidnapping, rape, endangering the welfare of children and five other charges.
The woman testified before a jury in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Alexander P. Bicket. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
Testifying for about an hour and a half, the woman said Mr. McDonald, her boyfriend of nearly five years, woke her up about 4 a.m. June 17, 2016, and began to argue with her. She said the noise woke up their two daughters, ages 3 and 18 months.
“After I got the girls put back to sleep, Mr. McDonald was waiting for me outside their bedroom,” she testified. “I got frustrated and said, ‘Maybe I’ll just leave.’”
The woman said Mr. McDonald became angry and demanded sex.
“At first I hesitated, I knew what could come out of me saying no,” the woman said, adding that when she refused his advances, “That’s when I get my walls punched in.”
The woman continued, “I told him I didn’t want to, but I did consent, but not willingly.”
Later that morning, the woman testified, she asked Mr. McDonald for the keys to her minivan to take their daughters to day care. The two began to argue and at one point, he “lunged” for her and choked her to the point of unconsciousness as she was holding their 18month-old.
The woman testified that she then saw Mr. McDonald “approaching me with duct tape.”
“I said, ‘ Please don’t do this,’” she testified. “Once he got me secured in my wrists, he got my legs together and wrapped my ankles. He then put duct tape around my mouth.”
For a number of hours, the woman testified, she was driven around in back of the minivan — where Mr. McDonald hid her under a pile of clothes and restrained her with rope and seat belts. The couple’s daughters were in the car, she said.
She testified that she began to plead with him after she was able to move the duct tape with her tongue. Mr. McDonald then removed her restraints and allowed her to sit in the front seat, where she tended to their youngest daughter, who was fussing.
Upon returning to their Monroeville home, the woman testified, she quietly alerted a neighbor to call police.
According to an affidavit in the case, Monroeville police were dispatched at 6:33 p.m.
The trial continues Wednesday.