Rape accused in Ammanford 'did not understand no or stop'

Constantin Martin, aged 19, said his English was too poor to appreciate what she was saying to him.

Martin, of no fixed address, denies raping the 21 year old woman in the early hours of August 14 last year.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, told a jury at Swansea Crown Court on Monday how the woman had talked to a group of Romanians while enjoying drinks in the Railway Hotel, Ammanford.

She invited four of them to go back to her flat to listen to to music and agreed to have sexual intercourse with one of them.

"The defendant may have heard them having sex and decided that he too was going to have sex with her whatever her views about it were," said Mr Wright.

After she had finished with her friend Martin grabbed her by the arm, pulled her into her bedroom and threw her onto a bed before raping her, it was alleged.

Mr Wright said another man in the living room heard the woman protesting and shouted at him to stop, but was ignored.

Afterwards Martin tried to justify what he had done by telling his friends that he had not had sex for three months, he alleged.

The woman immediately left the flat and went to the home of her sister.

Mr Wright said Martin turned up at Ammanford police station at 4.15am, not long after the alleged assault, and told an officer, "I am in trouble."

He told how the woman had said 'no, no' but said he had difficulty understanding the words, or the word 'stop.'

Mr Wright said the prosecution case was that he had admitted rape, only to later deny it. He agreed he had forced her into the bedroom, and later denied that too.

James Hartson, the barrister representing Martin, said his version of events was that she had agreed to have sexual intercourse with him but changed her mind part way through and that he stopped when she began to protest.

The alleged victim said that was not the case and that he had not listened to her pleas for him to stop.

The trial continues.