The victim of an alleged rape told a Belfast jury yesterday how she begged her assailant not to hurt her.
"I was afraid of what he, might do after the rape, that he would not let me go so that I could tell," the 37 year old mother of seven said.
The woman, from the Shankill area of the city, was giving evidence in the Crown Court trial of a 24 year old man, who denies raping her on the grass verge of the West Link motorway.
The incident occurred about midnight on June 14th-15th, 1993, after the woman walked out of the casualty department of the Royal Victoria Hospital.
The area was strange to her and she became lost. The witness said she met the defendant in Roden Street and he offered to show her the way home. She followed him to the West Link, then along a path beside bushes where she became scared. She passed the defendant and went to a low wall intending to climb over to the road.
But she claimed the defendant had pulled her away. "I said `Please don't hurt me', and he said `Just lie there and I won't hurt you'."
Counsel: Then what did he do? Witness: He raped me.
Earlier the court heard that following his arrest the defendant, who comes from the Donegall Road area, had admitted having intercourse with the woman, but claimed this had been with her consent.
The case continues this morning.