Hi °C | Lo °C A 20-year-old man has gone on trial at the Crown Court in Londonderry charged with the rape of a 15-year-old girl in the city last year.
Adam Titheridge from Sittingbourne in Kent, denies raping the girl in the grounds of Foyle and Londonderry College junior school at Northland Road on the night of July 8, 2011.
He also denies a charge of assaulting the schoolgirl occasioning her actual bodily harm on the same date.
Opening the prosecution case to a jury of eight men and four women, barrister Margaret-Ann Dinsmore said the defendant was one of two men who talked to the girl as she walked across the Peace Bridge after she'd left friends in the Waterside area.
The defendant said he would get the schoolgirl a taxi and they proceeded to walk along Strand Road, Clarendon Street and Northland Road, a distance of 2.5km.
“At one stage the defendant tried to kiss her. She let him kiss her,” Ms Dinsmore said.
The prosecutor said when they reached the junior school grounds, the schoolgirl, who like the defendant had consumed alcohol, became concerned about the whereabouts of the taxi. She sat on the footpath and refused to move until the taxi arrived.
“The defendant pulled her up and told her to get over the railings and into the grounds. She did. When they were in the grounds he pushed her to the ground. When he was doing this she tried to push him away and told him to leave her alone,” Ms Dinsmore told the jury.
“He pushed her face down to the ground. She was screaming. He pulled her trousers and pants down. He was on his knees behind her.”
The prosecution lawyer said the girl fought back.
“She got up and endeavoured to get away but he again pulled her to the ground and during that struggle she sustained an injury to her ankle,” Ms Dinsmore added.
The barrister said after he'd again pushed her to the ground face-down, the defendant raped her.
“When it was over the defendant pulled up his clothes and ran away.
“She got to her feet and climbed over the railing. She ran into the middle of the road to seek help. A taxi driver stopped. She told him she had been raped. The taxi driver then stopped a passing police car and the girl was taken to the police station.”
The lawyer said she was medically examined and swabs proved positive with DNA from the defendant.
The trial continues.
