Student nightlife involves drunken sex, rape jury told
A prosecutor has set out an alleged case of rape against a backdrop of the “world of modern students”.
Tom Storey told York crown court that for many the university lifestyle involved “going out every night, drinking to excess, picking up members of the opposite sex, with the intention of some sexual activity taking place”.
He said that Lewis Tappenden, 24, who is accused of raping a woman at her halls of residence in October 2015 after a night out, “turned violent when the student changed her mind as they lay in bed. He knew why he was there, he knew what he wanted and he carried on regardless.”
The court was told that CCTV showed the couple, who met at a nightclub for the first time that night, kissing on the walk to her halls of residence. Mr Tappenden claimed that the woman had told him she wanted to have sex with him. He denies pinning the woman down or being violent towards her when they were in bed.
Giving evidence, he said: “She didn’t tell me to stop. If she had, I wouldn’t have done anything.”