A Hove man has gone on trial charged with two counts of raping a “friend with benefits” at her home while her parents were out.
Keiran Wilkinson, 27, denied that he carried on having sex with the woman after she asked him to stop as he gave evidence to a jury at Hove Crown Court.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 18 at the time – in May 2018 – and is now 24 years old.
But although the case revolved around the issue of consent, this was not a case – unusually – where no meant no or stop meant stop, the court was told.
Dale Sullivan, prosecuting, said: “(She) and the defendant were friends and their relationship developed into a casual sexual relationship where they indulged in various consensual sexual fantasies including rape play and bondage.
“There was an agreement whereby if one person wanted the sexual activity to stop, they had an agreed series of ‘safe words’ that could be used – blackberry, pine and pineapple.”
Mr Sullivan said that there was disagreement about what happened and the prosecution case was that the complainant did not consent and that Wilkinson did not reasonably believe that she was consenting.
Wilkinson, who has Asperger’s syndrome, said in a prepared statement to Sussex Police after his arrest: “(She) said no but I took that as our usual play. She did not use the safe word ‘pineapple’. The acts were entirely consensual.”
The woman told the jury that when Wilkinson came to her Hangleton home, “the purpose of the visit was to have sex.”
But she found it painful and said: “We had a safe word and I was saying it quite a few times and he carried on and it hurt quite a lot.”
She suffered bleeding as a result, she told the jury, and said that she had screamed and struggled before giving up and just crying into her pillow.
Afterwards, she said, she suffered physical, mental and emotional pain, adding: “The stinging and pain were still there for days afterwards.”
Wilkinson, who worked for Iceland and previously for Subway, told the jury that when he realised that she had stopped responding in the usual way, he stopped what he was doing.
Mr Sullivan, though, told the jury: “He refused to stop and forced himself on her.”
He added: “Ordinarily, no means no. In this case, no doesn’t necessarily mean no.”
He told Wilkinson: “You completely ignored her screaming and crying … You completely ignored her wishes and her clear withdrawal of consent and carried on.”
Beverley Cherrill cross-examined the complainant and asked her about the rape play.
The complainant said: “It’s where things are put in place to protect the other person and those safe words are sacred. No doesn’t necessarily mean no.”
The safe words, though, were intended to bring about “a hard stop”.
She added: “Rape means being taken against your will. There is a difference between playing and doing.
“I sunk my head into the pillow and screamed … I was in so much pain. I said the safe word and he kept going.”
When it was over, she said, she asked him to leave. A few days later they started messaging each other again and after that they met up again.
Wilkinson was possessive, she said, and within a month she had started a relationship with someone else.
Her new partner urged her to tell the police what had happened and about four months later in September she did so.
Wilkinson was arrested at his home, in Arthur Street, Hove, and later charged with two counts of rape as well as sending a threatening message to someone else.
He pleaded guilty to the offence of sending an electronic message with intent to cause distress or anxiety but, otherwise, he was of good character.
Today (Wednesday 25 October) Judge Mark Van Der Zwart is expected to hear closing submissions and to sum up the case and give the jury legal directions.
