An alleged rape victim is giving evidence from beyond the grave because she committed suicide a week after claiming she had been kidnapped and raped by a man whom she assumed was a taxi driver.
A jury is watching the video-taped interview the 20-year-old woman, from Colwyn Bay, gave to police two days after the incident which took place in Chester in the early hours of August 10 last year.
Five days later she had taken a fatal overdose.
Judge Raj Shetty, who is presiding over the Chester Crown Court case, told the jury the circumstances were an ‘unusual factor’ but shouldn’t affect their judgment in the case.
Masood Mansouri, 33, of Shannon Close, Saltney, has pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping, serious sexual assault and rape of the alleged victim.
Prosecutor Nicholas William said the complainant had been to a party with Chester university friends at their halls of residence in Hough Green where she drank cocktails having earlier consumed half a bottle of vodka with orange juice before the group decided to get a taxi to the Bar 69 nightclub in Boughton at around midnight.
After unsuccessfully ringing KingKabs she went on to Hough Green to hail a cab which was when she got into Mansouri’s three series BMW. Despite telling him they must wait for her friends he drove off after about a minute.
Unfamiliar with Chester, she did not become suspicious of the route the driver was taking until she realised they were entering a residential area.
At that point Mr Williams said she surreptitiously sent three chilling text messages to her friend.
The first sent at 12.28am saying she had been kidnapped, a second said she wasn't joking. Seven seconds later, she texted: ‘Literally scared’.
The car pulled up outside what is now known to be Mansouri’s home address in Shannon Close, Saltney, when he told her to switch off her phone.
Mr Williams said the alleged victim was ‘trying to think of ways to get out of the situation but without aggravating him’.
He told her to go upstairs and she claims he started trying to kiss her.
He put his hand up her skirt, pulled down her knickers before carrying out the sexual assault and described him as being ‘really rough’.
After it was over, she ran out of the house and hid behind a bush and tried to ring her friend who dialled 999 for police.
Neighbours were awoken by the commotion with one hearing the woman talking quickly on the phone like she was ‘hysterical’.
And the alleged victim told another that she had tried to hail a taxi and a man had taken her back to his house.
The woman didn’t explain police were coming and the neighbour called KingKabs who took her to Bar 69 where she met her friend.
Taxi driver Simon Rodric recalled she was upset and crying.
The prosecutor said the victim’s initial thoughts were to try and forget about what had happened and decided not to tell police but when she woke up on the Monday morning she realised the seriousness of what had happened and told her mum.
Intimate swabs were taken revealing the presence of the defendant’s DNA and she was interviewed by police which was recorded on video.
On being arrested Mansouri said he stopped when the woman put her hand up because he thought she must know him.
She got in of her own accord and he claimed it was her who instigated the sexual encounter telling him she ‘wasn’t looking for a relationship but was looking for sex’.
The prosecutor told the jury: “A particularly tragic feature of this case is that five days after that video recorded interview with the police she took her own life.
“She took a fatal dose of her mother’s tablets.”
The case continues.
