Student feared being 'killed' before rape - court

A student feared she "would be killed" as she was led to the basement of a stranger's home before she was raped, a court has heard.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked at an address in the Hyde Park area of Leeds on 9 April this year, jurors at Leeds Crown Court were told.

Uvesh Vahora, 36, is standing trial for one charge of rape, which he denies.

Prosecutor Timothy Jacobs told the court the woman had earlier left her own house to buy food, but was approached by the defendant, who then took her to his own home and assaulted her.

In a police interview which took place the day after the alleged rape and which was played to the court, the woman said she had taken a dose of ketamine shortly before leaving the house.

She said that had resulted in her being "intoxicated" and "disorientated".

The woman said in her interview that she had no memory of how she had first encountered the man who attacked her.

However, she recalled being taken to a "messy" home, where she had her coat and phone taken from her.

She said she was then taken down to a basement room with a bed where she was raped.

She stated that the defendant then walked her back to her property where he promptly "disappeared", before she "broke down" and cried "hysterically".

Describing the moment she entered the basement, she said: "I just remember I thought I'd be killed. I didn't know what was going on."

In the interview, the student recalled saying, "please don't hurt me" while she was attacked, as well as asking for her phone back.

Asked in her interview if she had consented "at any point to what was happening", the woman replied, "no, I wouldn't have done".

Jurors were told that in a police interview after his arrest, Vahora said he had found the woman struggling to unlock her door, before she told him she needed the toilet.

He said he had suggested she try her neighbours, but she did not want to because it was late.

Vahora said they then agreed she could use his toilet, and after going with him to the property, the woman had kissed him and initiated consensual sex.

The defendant told officers he then walked her home and they had exchanged phone numbers, jurors were told.

During a pre-recorded cross-examination of the woman, which was played in court, she was shown CCTV footage which the defence suggested showed her "voluntarily" going into the house of the accused.

The woman maintained she was in a "vegetative state" because of the ketamine she had taken and had no memory of meeting the man.

When it was put to her by Vahora's barrister, Richard Littlehales, that she had kissed the defendant, the woman replied, "I did not kiss the defendant, no".

The trial continues.

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