Alleged victim gives evidence in rape trial

Tuesday 04 July 2017

A 17-year-old girl who alleges she was raped and indecently assaulted by a 20-year-old man appeared in Court on Monday to give evidence as part of the prosecution.

Paulo Adeline Pestana Ferreira is pleading not guilty to all charges against him, which include four counts of indecent assault and one of rape.

It is alleged that, in the early hours of 9 October 2016, Mr Ferreira took the victim to a car park instead of driving her home as he had offered to. It's claimed he indecently assaulted her as he was driving and then allegedly raped her on the back seat after pulling up in the car park. 

Mr Ferreira says that no sexual intercourse took place and that he simply drove the victim home. 

Yesterday, the 17-year-old girl gave evidence as part of the prosecution case. She told the Court that she had been to a friend's birthday party, before going to town the night before the alleged assault. After being refused entry at Koko and Tanguy's, she went to Havana Club, where she met the defendant. 

She explained that she drinks "occasionally" but that she was quite drunk that night. She says she remembers the defendant offered her a lift on several occasions but that she refused as one of her friends had offered to pick her up.

The teenager said that when her friend failed to meet her at Liberation Station, the defendant helped her up into his car as she was "not able to get up on my own because I was too drunk." She then told the court that as Mr Ferreira was driving, "he tried to put his hand down my trousers and he also grabbed my breasts. I tried to put his hand out and told him to stop. When he grabbed me, I pushed his hand away and told him to stop again."

She explained that when the car stopped, they got in the back seat after Mr Ferreira lifted her over the front seat. He then proceeded to undress her and forced himself onto her, which she described as "painful."

The alleged victim said she "blacked out" and does not remember the journey home, only that she got in bed at 04:00. The following morning, she woke up confused, drove to work and was in pain. She said: "I was thinking about everything that had happened and that’s when I realised I had been raped. I knew that I didn’t want that to happen and I was really upset."

During the cross-examination, the Defence advocate, Rui Tremoceiro, asked the victim if she remembered asking the defendant for a drink or kissing him whilst still in Havana. She said she didn't remember because "of the amount of alcohol I had drunk and the situation I was put in. I was trying to forget things."

Advocate Tremoceiro then said that the victim had given "an incredible account of events" when she said Ferreira put his hand down her trousers whilst driving, which would have been "dangerous."

He then said the victim had "misremembered how things had happened," suggesting that she had gone willingly onto the back seat rather than being forced. 

When Mr Tremoceiro suggested that Mr Ferreira "had done nothing without her consent," the victim replied "I don't agree." The trial continues.