Rape trial: woman admits memory of night was poor

Wednesday 26 August 2020

A woman at the centre of a rape allegation has admitted that her recollection of the night was poor.

In the Royal Court on Tuesday, the woman, who claims that she was raped by Vikas Dhar (43) at the Sarum Hotel on 14 September last year, accepted that alcohol may have affected her memory, but she maintained that the offence had taken place.

On the second day of the trial, the woman was cross-examined by Advocate Olaf Blakeley, who is defending Mr Dhar.

The Indian national, who was staying at the hotel while on a business trip, is accused of two counts of raping the woman, whom he had met for the first time outside the Royal Yacht Hotel just after 02:00.

They walked hand-in-hand back to the hotel and had consensual sex, followed by, it is alleged, forced sex when the woman wanted to leave after discovering that Mr Dhar was married with children. 

Advocate Olaf Blakeley is defending Mr Dhar.

Before the jury of six men and six women, Advocate Blakeley argued that Mr Dhar had, in fact, asked the woman to stop having sex, which she denied.

She also denied that Mr Dhar’s accent many have caused her to misinterpret his phrase, “You’re staying until tomorrow,” as a threat, rather than an invitation.

The lawyer also highlighted alleged discrepancies in the woman’s account given to the hotel night porter, emergency control room, police and examining doctor.

“You told them that he had tried to force you to have sex with him, but you didn’t tell any of them that you had been raped. Why not?” asked Advocate Blakeley.  

“I was absolutely traumatised,” replied the woman.

“It was only later that you embellished the story,” suggested the lawyer.

“How could anyone make that up?” she said.

Pictured: The alleged rape took place at an apartment at the Sarum Hotel last September.

After the woman had given her evidence, a number of witnesses took to the stand, including the armed police officer who woke up Mr Dhar in his hotel room to arrest him, and Official States Analyst Nick Hubbard, who said that a urine sample given by the woman indicated that she would have been approximately four times over the legal driving limit when she left town for the hotel. 

Also giving evidence, two colleagues who had been socialising with the woman earlier in the evening said that while she was “merry”, she was “walking fine” and was ”capable of making her own way back home.”

The trial, presided over by Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, continues on Wednesday.