Campus sex trial: 'I didn't scream because I felt threatened'

A YOUNG woman claims she did not scream when she was being subjected to an alleged sex attack because she felt threatened.

Three men have gone on trial at Hull Crown Court accused of abusing the woman on campus at Bishop Burton College.

The woman, who is in her late teens, told the jury she did not "fancy" the men and did not want a relationship or sex with them.

She said all three befriended her outside the college, took her keys and then pushed her into her room, where they sexually assaulted her.

The woman claims they then left, laughing.

Thomas Price, 21, of Rotherham, is accused of rape and assault by penetration, Stephen Johnson, 21, of Scotts Garth Close, Tickton, is accused of sexual assault and assault by penetration and William Robinson, 20, of Doncaster, is accused of assault by penetration.

The alleged victim told the jury: "I felt scared and I didn't have the courage to say anything."

In re-examination, prosecutor John Thackray put it to her: "It has been suggested that you should have screamed, scratched or shouted?"

She replied: "I felt threatened."

The girl denied claims she had reported the matter to the police to save her reputation because she was worried about "gossip".

She told the jury she had not lied about what happened.

Mr Thackray said: "You have accepted you did not want the college involved, you wanted to forget about it and you said that you felt you were to blame."

The woman told the jury her parents persuaded her to report it to the police after she received a letter from the college recommending she be excluded.

She said that when she reported the matter to the college she was not believed.

"The college told me I needed to tell the truth," she told the court. "I was telling the truth."

The court heard a senior member of staff at the college interviewed the alleged victim and sent her a letter, which read: "I'm writing to confirm you have received a recommendation for exclusion from the college for bringing the college into disrepute by demeaning sexual actions with a group of people."

The offences are alleged to have taken place last September.

Police nurse Angela Booth told the jury she had found a bruise on the woman's groin when she reported the matter a week later.

In cross-examination, Mr Price's barrister, Paul Genney, said: "It is notoriously impossible to date bruising and it is impossible to say how it was caused."

Mrs Booth said she agreed.

The defendants deny the charges and the trial continues.