Skegness: Man denies seaside park rape charge
An illegal migrant who was arrested for the alleged rape of a woman in Skegness has pleaded not guilty at Lincoln Crown Court.
An illegal migrant who was arrested for the alledge rape of a woman on the evening of 9 June has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court heard that Saad Gomaa, 34, allegedly raped a woman in a park in Skegness. The incident took place in Tower Gardens.
Prosecutors told Lincoln Crown Court that the victim was in no fit state to consent to anything after drinking two bottles of vodka.
The jury at Lincoln Crown Court heard that Mr Gomaa who travelled by train to Skegness was already in Tower Gardens when the complainant came into the park at around 22.15
Clive Stockwell KC, prosecuting, told the jury that much of the lead up to the incident was caught on CCTV, with footage showing Mr Gomaa and the complainant sitting on a park bench.
“She recalls moving from the bench area to a bushed area where there was no CCTV coverage,” Mr Stockwell told the court.
The court heard that the complainant started to panic and told Mr Gomaa that she did not want to have sex with him.
“She told him she was on her period as a way of trying to desist him,” Mr Stockwell said.
“The prosecution case is at that time she was in no fit state to want or agree to sexual intercourse,” he added.
‘Distressed’
CCTV showed the victim making a 999 call to police.
“It wasn’t too long after that call the police found her. She was in a very drunk and distressed state at that time,” Mr Stockwell said.
Mr Gomaa was arrested in a nearby nightclub in Skegness and interviewed with an Arabic interpreter.
The court heard that Mr Gomaa agreed that it was him in Tower Gardens and that sexual intercourse had taken place, but he claimed the woman had fully consented.
Mr Stockwell said, “this was rape, pure and simple”.
Mr Gomaa denies the charge of rape and the trial continues.