Woman Testifies About Threats and Rape Fear

Arape complainant testified yesterday that her alleged rapist, who is her father, always told her to give herself easily to him so he could relieve himself.

She said he would threaten her with a knife or hammer and told her that she would get hurt if she resisted him.

While giving evidence in the High Court, the 25-year-old woman said the thought of killing herself had crossed her mind. She alleges that her father started sexually molesting her in 2005 when she was 12 years old. She said she wanted to end her life and run away from home because she feared she could not handle what her father was doing to her. The court heard that on one occasion her father took her to a tree close to their home and raped her. She said the alleged incident happened for about two to three minutes and she felt disgusted afterwards. She said when she became pregnant her father would allegedly hurt her by telling her that the pregnancy was a form of punishment for her. The womanx told Justice Thushara Rajasinghe that on one occasion she was working in a shop at Four Miles and was in a relationship with a boy.

She said when her father found out about her relationship he allegedly raped her. She testified that on many occasions her father would allegedly rape her inside the bedroom while her younger siblings slept inside the living room.

She said she always felt scared when she saw him holding a knife or hammer and she always did whatever he wanted.

She said after her father had allegedly raped her she would cry and he would then apologise to her for what he had done. She said between October-December 2016 her father allegedly raped her about two to three times a week.

Legal Aid lawyer Lice Manulevu is representing the accused during the trial while State lawyer Mehzabeen Khan is appearing for the prosecution.

The trial continues in the High Court today. The accused faces four representative counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted rape and one count of indecent assault. Edited by Mohammed Zulfikar