‘Woman only realised she had been raped after falling pregnant’

A WOMAN only realised she had been raped on a night out after discovering she was pregnant, a court heard.

She said she woke up in her bed ‘naked, disorientated and confused’ after being walked home by Manuel Aguilar.

Initially, he told the woman that ‘nothing had happened’, but a fortnight later she took two pregnancy tests which came back positive.

Jersey Royal Court heard that she ‘felt sick’ and immediately terminated the pregnancy. DNA from the embryo was linked to Aguilar, 24, who denies rape.

Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood told the jury the woman, who cannot be named, had gone out with her friends in St Helier, Jersey, on the night of the alleged rape.

While she was in a nightclub the defendant arrived and offered to buy her a drink, the jury was told. The victim said she asked for a shot of the liqueur Sambuca. It was alleged that the defendant also bought a bottle of champagne.

At around 12.30am the woman was seen on CCTV footage being helped out of the bar in an drunken state. In another clip she was seen being carried through town by the defendant, alongside another individual.

Miss Hollywood added that after around an hour, the victim collapsed and an ambulance was called.

Although she did not require treatment, paramedics advised her and the group that someone needed to monitor her through the night to ensure she would not choke in her sleep if she vomited. It was then agreed that the defendant would take her home.

Yesterday Miss Hollywood told the court a young woman left alone with a man in a flat after a night’s drinking made the ‘ideal victim’.

The next morning, the woman woke up naked, feeling disorientated and confused.

Her clothes had been stacked neatly beside her bed, which was not usual, and a throw from her sofa appeared to have been used as a blanket.

Aguilar initially told her ‘nothing had happened’. However, the court heard that when he was later told she was not

‘Told nothing had happened’

using contraception, he said he was not ‘100 per cent sure.’

Days later, the jury heard, the woman attended a sexual health clinic where she was given the morning-after pill.

After speaking with a nurse about what had happened, she was told that her case sounded like rape.

Weeks later she took two pregnancy tests, which were both positive, despite her taking the morning-after pill.

She told Aguilar who, it is claimed, agreed to help her pay for a termination. Only then did she go to the police.

Giving evidence, the woman said: ‘I was angry I was put in that position. He could have told me earlier and I could have avoided this process.’

The trial continues.