A suspicious lover used the torch from a woman’s phone to carry out an intimate inspection after believing that she had stolen drugs from him and had been sleeping with a colleague, the Royal Court has heard.
In evidence given on the first day of a Royal Court trial, a woman outlined how Elliot Gomes had become jealous after she started a new job, with his accusations and actions forming part of what she described as a campaign of abuse.
Mr Gomes (39) pleaded not guilty to one count of grave and criminal assault, three further charges of assault, one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice and a final charge of domestic abuse.
Shielded from the defendant and those in the public gallery by a screen, the woman wept as she described how she had been subjected to physical assaults and aggression from Mr Gomes.
The court was told that the defendant made his alleged victim strip after she returned home from work and then checked her body before initiating sex, during which he accused her of sleeping with her colleague.
Later in the victim’s evidence, she said she had been pressured by Mr Gomes not to go to work, after which he had chased her around her flat and “body-slammed” her in a hallway, causing her to hit her head on the bathroom door. He then sat in front of the front door to prevent her from leaving, the court heard.
The woman added that on two occasions Mr Gomes had used a phone torch during a forced “inspection” in a bid to gain evidence that would back up his suspicions about her sleeping with a colleague, and over what he thought was the theft of cocaine that he had left unattended on a bedside table while visiting the bathroom.
“He made me feel very insecure,” she said, describing other elements of her treatment by Mr Gomes, which she said included him forcing her to take part in live sexualised conversations with strangers in web-based chatrooms and bragging in detail about his sexual exploits with another woman.
The court heard that Mr Gomes and the woman had begun regularly injecting liquid cocaine within a few months of meeting.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said that around six months after meeting, Mr Gomes had slapped the woman with the back of his hand, causing her to fall down the stairs.
Crown Advocate Carvalho characterised the pair’s interactions as a “toxic blend of drink and drugs, resulting in significant police involvement”.
The court heard that after the woman made a formal complaint against Mr Gomes, she later withdrew the allegation after he had pressured her to do so.
Crown Advocate Carvalho told the court that at one stage Mr Gomes had continued to contact the alleged victim in spite of a court order that he should not do so, and that on several occasions he denied assaulting her by saying that had he done so, she would have been killed or seriously injured.
The woman described her treatment as a “violent rampage” and said that Mr Gomes had “completely ruined” her life.
The court heard that the instances of reported abuse carried out by Mr Gomes included isolating the woman from others, examining her mobile phone, accusing her of being overweight, refusing to leave her property, demanding sex and threatening to rape her.
Commissioner John Saunders is presiding at the trial, with Jurats Entwistle and Opfermann sitting.