Previous rape claim delays trial

The woman who accused an Uber driver of raping her after a ride home from SunFest in May made another rape allegation in New York City last year, a recent discovery that has jolted the local case.

After news of the earlier rape claim surfaced, Chief Circuit Judge Krista Marx ordered that Gary Kitchings, 58, can be released from Palm Beach County Jail to house arrest under a $250,000 bond covering four felony charges.

Records show he was still jailed on Friday. Until the judge’s order, he was not granted any bond.

Also, Kitchings’ attorney was given the court’s permission to question Kitchings’ accuser for a second time — focusing only on her earlier allegations of being raped at a Manhattan hotel. The judge delayed the trial for five months until March 12 to give the defense time to investigate the NYC case.

Authorities want to keep the focus on the local case. They contend Kitchings, a longtime foster care provider who also drove for the ride-sharing service, became violent while driving the woman home from a concert in West Palm Beach early May 7. They say he forced her to perform sexual acts in his 2016 Nissan Versa before the attack at her residence — and threatened to shoot her and her barking dogs if she tried to resist.

But Kitchings’ defense is that the sex was entirely consensual, acknowledging he was cheating on his wife when it happened at the accuser’s home.

“If anyone was the aggressor, it was her,” Kitchings told a detective about his passenger, records show.

Because of the nature of the allegations, the Sun Sentinel is not naming the woman.

Assistant Public Defender Stephen Arbuzow, who represents Kitchings, wrote in a recent pleading that prosecutors knew about the New York case and failed to disclose it to the defense. Arbuzow explained that he only