Former Shinzo boss denies alleged rape and assaults ever happened

Tuesday 13 February 2024

A former restaurant owner has taken to the stand to deny that the rape and assaults he is accused of ever happened.

Gavin Neil Roberts (44) has been on trial in the Royal Court for the past week for allegedly assaulting one woman twice, and committing grave and criminal assault, one count of rape and two of sexual penetration without consent against another.

He has pleaded guilty to two further charges of grave and criminal assault against the second woman.

Giving evidence this morning, Mr Roberts claimed that the alleged incidents had never happened.

He also said that he was not as intoxicated as the alleged victims suggested he was.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit asked: “[The first alleged victim] described you getting lairy and ordering more drinks from the bar.”

The defendant said: “I don’t recall that happening.”

Mr Roberts explained how medical issues after the opening of his restaurant Shinzo made him limit his drinking to just once a week.

Asked by Advocate Maletroit if this applied to all occasions, Mr Roberts said that there were certain occasions when he “would drink a bit more”.

The court heard that in his defence statement, Mr Roberts claimed not to be able to “easily identify” the incidents in question but, when quizzed in court this morning, he said he remembered events of those dates.

Yesterday, Mr Roberts said that he had not been as drunk as was alleged during the incidents and that he had not assaulted the first woman.

The second woman told the jury previously that the first assault on her took place in town after a night out.

Advocate David Steenson, defending, asked Mr Roberts: “The allegation is that you strangled her, shoved her against the door, strangled her and punched her a number of times to the face.

“Did you do anything like that?”

Mr Roberts denied this.

Asked if the alleged victim had complained of any injuries after the incident, he said: “No, she didn’t.”

He also denied being drunk or having consumed as much alcohol as had previously been alleged, saying he was “intoxicated” but not “drunk”.

In relation to the rape allegation, which the court heard occurred at a later date, Mr Roberts was asked about a text in which the alleged victim had said to him: “I don’t want you to hit me again.”

Advocate Steenson asked: “What does that refer to?”

Mr Roberts replied: “I don’t know.”

He claimed that on the night of the incident, the woman had tripped when exiting a taxi and fallen on the floor.

Mr Roberts said: “She had to be helped off the floor by the night manager at the time.

“They picked her up and asked if she was OK.

“She was very floppy, she couldn’t stand up for herself.”

He added: “She was really bad, she was. She was too drunk to speak.”

Mr Roberts also alleged that she had drunkenly fallen into the door of the lift, hitting her chin, and described how she said she was cold and wanted a shower.

He said that he had not poured water over her, as alleged, but that he had tried to give her water to drink.

He claimed that, incapable of hand-eye coordination, she had spilled it over her own shoulder.

Mr Roberts denies rape.

Asked by Advocate Steenson why he had initially denied further charges of grave and criminal assault that he later pleaded guilty to, Mr Roberts said that he “panicked” and wanted to present a more “balanced” picture.

The trial continues.