Woman tells court of being raped by Neptune

An alleged rape victim on Wednesday recalled the day she screamed and begged Rommel Neptune to stop when he tried to have anal sex with her.

The woman, who is now in her 20s, was the first witness to take the stand when Neptune’s rape trial began in the No. 2 Supreme Court.

Neptune, of Cutting Road, Haggat Hall, St Michael, is accused of raping the then 18-year-old female on April 15, 2017.

Under questioning from Senior State Counsel Olivia Davis who is prosecuting the case, the woman told the court she met Neptune while she was a student at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology in 2017.

She said he used to hang out at a shop that was close to the bus stop where she caught the van, and she gave him her phone number and they began communicating via Whatsapp.

However, she recalled that Neptune became very pushy and continually pushed for them to meet up.

She said he constantly spoke about being in a relationship although he barely knew her.

On the day of the alleged incident, the woman said she made plans to go to Bridgetown.

She said Neptune was messaging her asking if they could meet up, but she refused.

“I got ready and went to the bus stop at the bottom of Holders Hill. When I got there, he called me and told me he was in the area and I told him I didn’t want to meet him again. While I was waiting at the bus stop, he drove past me and went in the Esso gas station at Payne’s Bay,” she recalled.

The woman said she went to the car and Neptune told her to get in.

She said after getting in the vehicle she asked him where they were going and he replied: “Wait and see.”

She said he then drove off from the gas station, went up Holders Hill and onto Redman’s Village.

The woman said she figured Neptune was giving her a ride to town as he knew of her intended plan.

She said after passing Redman’s Village, Neptune told her about a “concrete road” and she again asked him where he was taking her but he did not answer.

The witness said shortly after he pulled the car to the side of the road and threatened her.

“He was saying stuff like he would drop me in a 30-foot well and that he has a boat and he would tie a brick to my foot and drop me 100 miles off the coast of the island and that he would shoot me as well if I tried to get away,” she said.

The woman said Neptune then turned onto a concrete road and then a “dirt road”.

She said at that time she was scared and felt she needed to find a way out of the vehicle.

“He then told me to get in the back seat but I refused. He then got out of the car, walked around to my side, opened the door and dragged me out and put me in the back seat. The door had on the child lock so I couldn’t get out. He grabbed my head and pushed it in his lap and then put his hand under my skirt. I tried to stop him but he held both my hands. I told him to stop because he was hurting me but he refused.

“He then lifted my skirt and partially took off my underwear. I told him to stop but he said it made no sense screaming because nobody could hear me and that if I tried to run he would shoot me and drag me back into the car,” she recalled.

“He took his privates out and tried to insert it anally but it did not go in at first but then it went in. I told him it was hurting me and I was screaming and begging him to stop. After about 30 minutes he stopped, took up some paper towels and cleaned himself off. He then drove me back to Holders Hill and I went home and had a shower.”

She said she never consented to having sex with Neptune.

The woman said after the incident she inquired as to who Neptune was as he told her he was the “Fire Chief”. She said this led her to believe he was “a dangerous person”.

She said she found out from her cousin that Neptune was not the person he had purported to be.

Furthermore, she said, she realised Neptune lived “a gap or two away from her” and not in Fitts Village as he had told her.

She said she made a report to police a few days after the incident and was examined by a doctor.

When cross-examined by defence counsel Justin Leacock, who is representing Neptune in association with King’s Counsel Michael Lashley, the witness admitted that she willingly went to Neptune’s car and got inside after he parked in the gas station.

She also agreed that when she got into the vehicle she did not ask Neptune for a ride to Bridgetown.

Leacock suggested to the witness that she was not as fearful during the incident as she was claiming to be because she made no attempts to escape.

He also suggested to her that the incident never took place.