A woman told a nine-member jury on Thursday that her stepfather raped her as her six-month-old baby slept on her chest.
The man is charged that on July 15, 2015, he had sexual intercourse with the woman without her consent, knowing that she did not consent or was reckless as to whether she consented to the intercourse.
Testifying as the case got underway in the No. 5 Supreme Court, the woman said she had moved back into her stepfather’s house with her infant days before the incident. Her mother and two siblings also resided in the home.
On the mentioned date, she dressed in a shirt and a panty after taking a shower. Her son was restless, so she wrapped a towel around herself, lay down and placed him on her chest to try to get him to sleep. Her stepfather then came into the room and began tugging at her towel.
“At that point, I turned and asked him if he was stupid, and he walked away,” she recalled, saying she then dozed off with the infant still on her.
The complainant said when she awoke around 2 p.m., her stepfather was on top of her.
“I told him to get off me because his weight was on my son, and he told me hush my mouth before he drag [my son] off me, and I got scared,” she testified. He then pulled her towel and underwear off as she was moving her legs and telling him to stop. The complainant said she moved her son to her right hand while her stepfather held down her left hand and raped her.
Afterwards, she dressed and called her best friend to tell her what happened. She said no one else was in the house when the incident occurred, but her younger brother was outside.
“I didn’t tell him what happened. I just felt sick and went in the bathroom to vomit,” she said, later adding that she was “disgusted” and “scared” during the act.
The complainant said she went to the house next door to try to reach her mother and then called her older sister and her son’s father.
She said when her mother came home and asked her what happened, she didn’t answer because the woman began yelling at her, telling her that she was “sending up her blood pressure”.
Her son’s father subsequently took her to the District ‘C’ Police Station where she made a report. Afterwards, she was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to be examined.
State Counsel Kevin Forde asked the complainant whether she had ever asked her stepfather for money or had sex with him in his car. She replied, “No, please,” adding that she only ever called his cell phone to talk to her mother.
During cross-examination by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens, who represents the accused, the complainant said she was 24 years old when the incident occurred.
Responding to other questions, she said that when her stepfather lay down on top of her and her son, the infant did not cry and she did not take him to the doctor. She also could not recall how long the episode lasted.
“So it didn’t appear to you that anything was wrong with him from this man lying on top of him for a period of time?” Mitchell-Gittens asked in relation to the baby.
“No,” the complainant replied.
The trial continues on Friday.
Madam Justice Pamela Beckles is presiding.
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