Witness says teen boy forced her to have sex

It was a tear-filled and highly emotional account by the alleged victim of a 17-year-old rape when she took to the witness stand today in the High Court.

The now 30-year-old woman, who was age 13 at the time of the December 29, 2003 incident, broke down in tears on no fewer than three occasions as she gave evidence in the case against then 15-year-old Theodore Tudor.

Tudor, now 32, of Westbury Road, St Michael is accused of having sexual intercourse with the teen without her consent, knowing that she did not consent or was reckless as to whether she so consented.

The woman, who was the first witness called by the Crown in the trial before No. 5A High Court Justice Christopher Birch, recalled the events which led to her rape claim.

The St Michael resident remembered leaving home on the morning of December 29, 2003 to go to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) accompanied by her best friend and neighbour to receive therapy for a knee injury she had earlier sustained.

The witness said after the therapy finished, her friend asked her to go to Westbury Road with her to see her boyfriend.

She testified that at first she thought the house belonged to her best friend’s boyfriend, only to find out on arrival it was owned by another man who she knew from seeing him in her neighbourhood.

The woman recalled that when she got to the house in Westbury Road, there was a group of boys present.

“I was feeling unwell and asked the owner if I could lie down. My friend and her boyfriend went into a bedroom [different room]. They had sex,” the witness stated.

“After that she asked me to accompany her to the bathroom. She wanted something removed from her dress…it was sperm,” she added.

The witness told the court that after they were unable get the sperm stain removed, both agreed to change their clothes to avoid suspicion.

“I changed into a tshirt…I went back into the bedroom to lie down. My bestfriend J…… and another friend came into the bedroom,” she said.

The alleged victim testified that the accused also came into the room and her two friends eventually left.

She recalled that when she tried to leave as well the accused Tudor pushed in the door, locked it and blocked her from getting out.

“I told him I wanted to leave. He started telling me he liked me,” declared the witness who at this point began weeping, interrupting her testimony for several minutes.

“He started touching me on my buttock and I told him I wanted to leave,” the young woman recalled as she once more broke down crying. She had to be consoled by Crown Counsel Joyann Catwell.

“I couldn’t unlock the door myself because it didn’t have a knob. I tried again to unlock the door and couldn’t. We started to struggle…he pushed me onto the bed and tried to get off my tights,” testified the witness responding to a question from Crown Counsel Catwell.

“He pushed his hand inside my vagina,” she testified as she burst out in tears yet again and paused for a while as she sought to compose herself.

The witness went on: “I tried to fight but I was not successful. He took out his penis and had on a condom…and had sex with me.”

In response to another question from the Crown Counsel, the alleged rape victim said she was not certain how long it took.

Asked what position she was in, the woman told the court she was lying on the bed. “He had me pinned in the position of my legs up to my face. I told him to stop. When he was finished, he went through the door and  I went behind him,” the witness recalled.

“I walked straight outside the house. I walked over to a lady next door and asked to use the phone and called my grandfather’s friend to collect me,” she told the court.

The young woman informed the judge that when her grandfather’s friend collected her she was in pain and felt like passing out.

She said when she got home she only told her mother she had a stomach ache.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone because I was scared to tell her…I was 13 years old,” said the witness.

She also recounted that when she went to bed she started to see blood forcing her to keep going to the bathroom.

“I went to sleep and all I could see [next] was two men standing over me… I ended up in hospital for a month,” added the alleged rape victim.

The young woman told the court she was informed by one of the doctors that her mattress at home was filled with blood…”and that I was bleeding out”.

She claimed that after the encounter with the accused, she began experiencing a sharp crippling pain.

“I didn’t give him permission to have sex with me. I didn’t arrange to go to the house for sex. I didn’t want to have sex with him,” she told the court in response to a question from the Crown Counsel.

Under cross examination by defence attorney Rita Evans, the witness rejected the lawyer’s suggestion that the evidence she gave today was a “bold-faced lie”.

In further response to Evans, she also admitted that the accused did not hold her by the throat and neither did she scream out for help from any of the estimated eight people in various parts of the house.

The witness also conceded that she did not sustain any scratches or injuries resulting from the struggle and fight with the accused.

The defence lawyer also sought to test the young woman’s memory of her statement to the police in the early stages of the incident and her evidence today.

On several occasions, the victim told the court she could not recall making certain statements including one before the magistrates’ court.

The second Crown witness who gave evidence today was the claimant’s mother who said she had instructed her daughter’s grandmother to ensure she did not go to the QEH for therapy with her best friend.

She said if she did not have to work that morning, she would have taken her daughter to the hospital.

The mother also informed the court that she tried numerous times at home and while in the hospital to get her daughter to tell her what happened but without success.

The witness recalled that it was the doctor who called in the police after he could not ascertain what took place.

“We called J……… and she said he didn’t know what happened. The doctor said she had a tear in the womb. Whatever somebody pushed in there left a hole. The doctor said if he patched it up, she wouldn’t get children. The doctor said she would have to live with pain the rest of her life,” the girl’s mother testified.

According to the witness, the doctor said it appeared that the then teenaged girl had had an abortion.

The case continues tomorrow at 11 a.m. when the best friend will be called to the stand. (EJ)