Woman tells court friend raped her

A 22-year-old woman burst into tears yesterday after telling Belfast Crown Court of being raped by a friend after they had kissed…

A 22-year-old woman burst into tears yesterday after telling Belfast Crown Court of being raped by a friend after they had kissed and cuddled while she was in her bed.

She told the trial of Mr Justin John Martin (25) that she did not mind the kissing, or him touching her chest, but she objected when he tried to move below her waist. The woman also claimed that afterwards Mr Martin, from Clarawood House, Belfast, who had punched and slapped her face, appeared to apologise.

"I was screaming at him to get out and he kept saying - `What have I done? what have I done?" she said.

Mr Martin denies raping the woman in her south Belfast flat on September 1st, 1995, claiming that she had consented to sex. The woman, who admitted she has attempted suicide on numerous occasions in the past, and had to be treated in hospital for a drug- induced psychosis, said they had met earlier in a city centre bar.

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She was with two other friends and along with Mr Martin, they returned to her flat. One left a short time later, and after she dropped off another friend, Mr Martin asked to stay the night and she agreed. She also said that when he asked to sleep beside her, she agreed.

"It didn't bother me him sleeping beside me because it would not have been the first time," she said. Mr Martin, she claimed, went to the bathroom twice, and on his return glared at her and after ripping her pants off, raped her.

The woman said she "froze, I think out of fear. At this stage I just lay there. I was crying and saying, `what are you doing?' " Afterwards she said she phoned a hospital to talk to a nurse she knew, but she was not on duty so she talked to another nurse who later alerted police.

She said she did not phone for the police herself because "the police didn't even come into my head - I just wanted to talk to someone". The trial continues today.