Published date: 23 September 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
Warrington Crown Court
A JURY has heard an audio recording of a woman making ‘sexual’ noises in a taxi, just minutes before she was allegedly raped by the driver.
On the second day of the trial of 46-year-old Sultan Amari the court was played a video of his taxi after he picked up the alleged victim.
Amari, of Chester Road, Flint, is on trial at Warrington Crown Court charged with two counts of rape after he was accused of picking up a drunken student in Chester city centre before taking her to an empty house on Sealand Road and raping her twice on a blow-up bed.
Yesterday, the court heard from the alleged victim that she had gone out in Chester “for a few drinks” with a friend after finishing a shift at work. She said she only remembered parts of the night out.
CCTV played to the court showed the woman struggling to walk in a straight line after leaving Duttons, on Godstall Lane. She was later seen on CCTV hugging a man which she said she did not remember.
She said she had drunk about two bottles of wine and had not eaten since about 3pm, and had got into the taxi at 9.30pm.
A video of the taxi journey was then played to the court. In the audio the complainant said to Amari “take me anywhere”, “I will show you a good time” and “take me anywhere in Cheshire”.
After setting off Amari asked if she wanted to go to his house and the woman agreed.
She was then heard to make some sexual noises which the woman told the jury “sounded like sexual activity”.
She was asked by defence barrister Kate Hammond whether the noises on the video were “sexual”. The woman replied “yes”.
Ms Hammond asked whether the woman had instigated sexual activity. The complainant replied: “I don’t remember”. Ms Hammond then asked whether it was possible that she had consented. The complainant replied: “Yes”.
The woman said she did not remember having sex with Amari in the house and only remembered leaving the bar in Chester and waking up naked in Amari’s house.
She told the jury that she later had a flashback where she was lying face down on an airbed mattress with a man having sex with her and she was “uncomfortable” and “not able to move” which “felt wrong”.
The woman said that after she woke up in Amari’s house she left and asked a man, Roy Muir, walking down Sealand Road for help. She said that he let her use his phone to call the police and shortly afterwards Amari arrived in his taxi.
In a statement read to the court Mr Muir said that at about 4.30am he was approached by the woman when he was walking home.
He said that she was “upset and crying” and that he was “concerned about her” so let her call the police using his phone.
He said that Amari then arrived in a taxi and she asked for her bag back which he went to get before coming back.
Mr Muir said that while Amari was gone she had a “panic attack” but the police arrived a short time later, along with Amari who gave the woman her bag back before
being arrested.
The court also heard part of Amari’s police interview read to the court. In it he claimed that the woman had agreed to go to his house and she instigated sex.
He told police that they had sex on the stairs of the house before going upstairs to the bedroom.
He explained that the reason the house was empty was that because he was living with his girlfriend in an address at Colwyn Close, Ellesmere Port, at the time and the house was up for sale.
He told police after having sex with the woman for about an hour she fell asleep and he went back out to work for two hours. He said he then went back and had consensual sex with the woman again before leaving again to work.
He said that he then got a McDonald’s meal for the woman before coming home to find that she was not there. He drove a short distance down Sealand Road and found the woman with Mr Muir.
Amari is expected to take the stand on Friday.
see-http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/167075/taxi-driver-rape-trial-court-hears-recording-of-woman-making-sexual-noises-.aspx
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