Woman raped in Telford flats' stairwell, court told
A young woman was dragged into a Telford block of flats and raped in the stairwell when she went out shopping, a court has heard.
It was still daylight when the 27-year-old victim was allegedly sexually assaulted in Hollinswood on the evening of June 17 this year.
A jury at Shrewsbury Crown Court has heard that the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was confronted outside the Downton Court flats.
Radovan Felix Opoku, 33, of Burford, Brookside, denies the rape allegation.
Yesterday the young woman sobbed in the witness box as she recalled the incident when she claims she was approached by Ghanaian-born Opoku at about 9.30pm as she walked to a supermarket.
She accepted she had been drinking wine earlier and that she did not shout or try and fight-off her attacker, but "just froze".
The court heard she had injuries to knees, knuckles and face but that these were from falling when she had suffered "a fit" on an earlier occasion.
Cross-examined by Mr Paul Smith, for Opoku, the young woman denied she had approached the defendant and offered to "do anything" if he bought her some wine.
She denied that she led the defendant into the stairwell and that she had kissed him.
"He took my arm and dragged me into the flats. I remember clearly. It is hard to forget," she said.
Breaking down and crying in the witness box the young woman said Opoku had kissed her and she had not wanted to have sex with him.
"I did not ask him for wine, or money. I did not want it to happen. I did not want any of it," she said.
Dr Stephen Jennings told the jury he found injuries to the victim's left shoulder and the base of her right thumb consistent with being held against a wall and being forcibly restrained.
The trial continues.
