A woman who accused a former contestant on Britain’s Got Talent of raping her said she stayed the night after the alleged incident as she “felt frozen”.
Andrew Johnston, 30, competed as a singer on the television programme in 2008 and is now on trial at Southwark Crown Court charged with raping and sexually assaulting one woman, and raping another woman. The alleged offences happened a number of years after Johnston appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, Maryam Syed KC, prosecuting, told the jury previously.
Ms Syed said Johnston had been “engaging in consensual sexual activity” with one complainant, but he removed his condom, and the complainant “repeatedly told Mr Johnston to stop” but he did not. A video interview of one of the complainants was played to the jury and she said Johnston held one hand on her throat and her arms were pinned with his other hand.
The woman told the jury on Friday that after the alleged rape she stayed over as she “felt frozen”. Rupert Kent, defending, put to her that it would not have been difficult to leave at some point in the night.
She replied: “It was difficult to me. I felt frozen and stuck in place. I felt trapped and like I couldn’t move. I felt stuck and anxious.” At a later date, the woman said she saw the defendant at a club and he “groped my bum”, then outside “grabbed me by the shoulders and forcibly kissed me”.
Under cross-examination on Thursday afternoon, Mr Kent put to the woman that Johnston did not remove the condom while having sex with her, to which she said he did. Mr Kent suggested to the woman that she “exaggerated or embellished what might be considered hard or energetic consensual sex, and moved it into the realms of non-consensual sex”, and the woman replied “no”.
He put to her that the allegation was a “deliberate lie” and she said “it’s not a lie”. The other complainant told police she had engaged in consensual sexual activity with the defendant and asked him to use a condom, the prosecution said.
The woman said she started to feel the defendant’s hands around her neck and “no matter how many times she removed them, she said the defendant kept on putting his hands back around her throat”, Ms Syed said. He then stopped and removed the condom, then carried on with the intercourse, and she “indicated that he once again put his hands around her throat”.
Johnston, of Newtown Road, Carlisle, Cumbria, denies two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. The trial continues.
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