A jury has heard a 16-year-old girl describe being raped on the beach in Brighton by Joseph Eubank at Lewes Crown Court this afternoon (Monday 23 September).
In a video recording of a police interview, the girl said that she was drunk, had become separated from her friends and didn’t really know what was happening.
Beverly Cripps, prosecuting, told the court: “He took her down to the beach, towards the bottom of the groyne near to the sea. On the way, she had stumbled more than once.
“But he pulled her up, taking her further down the beach. When she fell for the final time, he sat beside her. She has a recollection that he may have kissed her.”
It was then, that Eubank is alleged to have raped the girl twice in a few moments before getting up and just walking off back up the beach.
The 27-year-old is the youngest son of former boxer Chris Eubank Sr and the brother of boxer Chris Eubank Jr.
The teenager, whose identity is protected by law, said that she had come into Brighton with a group of friends to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
They listened to music and had been drinking vodka, initially with a mixer and later neat, on the seafront close to the Palace Pier, on Saturday 16 July 2022.
She said: “I think I drank quite a lot without any actual mixer. (I was) very drunk. I couldn’t actually see straight. I was sitting down for most of the evening because I couldn’t stand up easily … I hadn’t drunk like that ever.”
She said that Eubank approached her and asked how old she was – and she said 16 and he that he told her that he was 26.
Miss Cripps said: “She remembered he had said something about ‘going to look at the moon’ which was prominent that night.”
When Eubank walked her down the beach, the girl said that he gripped her hand and arm tightly in a way that felt aggressive and that he was in a hurry to get down the beach.
The girl said that she was going slower because she kept stumbling and falling in her drunken state but he was impatient.
Afterwards she left the beach and met up with her friends, telling one of them that she had been raped. She cried for about half an hour.
Miss Cripps said: “The group went back to (a friend’s) house as arranged. (The complainant), who had to check in with her mother, was unable to contact her as she had lost her phone.
“She logged into to a friend’s Instagram and tried contacting her mother that way but was unable to do so.
“She sent her a message explaining what had happened which her mother received when she woke at 6am the next morning.
“Her father went to pick her up and brought her home where the police were called. Her mother bagged up the clothing she was wearing.”
The teenager’s phone was found by a council-employed beach cleaner and returned to her the next day.
Miss Cripps said: “When she switched it on, she found a message from an unknown number … ‘Hey pup, are you ready for round two?’
“She was immediately scared, deleted the message and blocked the number. She said that she told her mother about two months later and she had pushed it away in her mind. As the investigation progressed, she brought it to the police’s attention.”
Miss Cripps said that Eubank was arrested at his home address on Thursday 21 July and taken to a police station.
He made a prepared statement: “I object to and deny any criminal allegation made against me today. I will now provide a no comment interview.”
Miss Cripps said that Eubank provided samples for DNA and that these matched DNA found in swab samples taken from the girl.
She said that he was asked to provide the personal identification number (PIN) for his phone so that police could examine it. He refused to do so and despite requests the PIN has not been provided.
Miss Cripps told the jury that Eubank, 27, admitted having sex with the girl but he said that she had consented.
Eubank, of Hill Drive, Hove, denies both counts of rape.
The trial continues.
