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The most “disputed” part of the case for a homeless person accused of raping a teenage girl is whether she was an “enthusiastic participant” in the encounter, a judge told the jury.
The remaining 11 jurors are now deliberating whether or not sleeper Wesley Roden, 33, is guilty of raping the 18-year-old on August 16, 2019 in London.
The A-level student claimed he walked up and asked, “Can I try?”, while another mystery man was raping her on the lawn in the early hours.
When arrested, Roden, from Warrington, claimed he was dragged into having sex with the young woman by both her and an unknown man who is still wanted by police on suspicion of rape.
The teenager alleged that Roden raped her in Victoria Embankment Gardens while she was ‘ten times drunk’.
The remaining 11 jurors are now deliberating whether or not sleeping Wesley Roden, 33, (pictured) is guilty of raping the 18-year-old on August 16, 2019 in London.
Roden claimed he was dragged into having sex with the young woman by both her and an unknown man, (pictured) still wanted by police on suspicion of rape.
Roden claims the teen, who was allegedly having sex with another man at the time of the encounter, invited him “to get involved” and pulled him to her crotch and begged him to “fuck her”.
“The prosecution says she couldn’t consent or speak and just went blank,” registrar Tom Forster KC told jurors at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.
“She felt paralyzed and really scared and saw that the defendant was neglected, the prosecution says, and that he had been living badly for five months, the defense says.
“This is hotly disputed by the defendant, who says that she was an enthusiastic participant throughout.”
Roden insists the girl performed oral sex on him and consented to unprotected sex.
“His case is that she had the time of her life and then, ‘he kissed her,'” added recorder Forster.
When questioned, she said she didn’t remember if the word ‘no’ came out of her mouth and says she didn’t fight or yell for help and just hoped it would all be over.
‘The defendant suggested in the interview that she was an enthusiastic partner, who instigated sexual activity, saying: ‘She had the time of her life.’
“He said she was a slut and a ‘twisted little scum’, that told him she had sex with strangers every weekend.”
The art student, along with two other friends, went out on the night of August 16, 2019. They started the night at ‘XOYO’ club in Shoreditch before heading west to ‘Heaven’ nightclub.
The teenager alleged that Roden raped her in Victoria Embankment Gardens (pictured) while she was ’10 times drunk’
One of the friends claimed that they drank vodka, beer and cider while traveling to the club. Blood tests showed that the victim was also using cocaine, cannabis and ketamine.
At least one of the group was denied entry to heaven, so the friends decided to go to McDonald’s in an attempt to sober up, jurors were told.
The victim became separated from her friends while at the fast food chain and was later seen on CCTV leaving Charing Cross superclub Heaven with the first mystery suspect at approximately 2:40am.
‘One of the friends said that this was not ‘typical behaviour’, [the victim] doesn’t just explode’, she is ‘sensible’, Judge Forster said.
They both approached a security guard who accused them of thinking the victim had left. [McDonald’s] and turned left.
Jurors listened as the alleged victim’s friends tried unsuccessfully to reach her by calling her phone. They then proceeded to take the night bus from Trafalgar Square back to High Barnet.
Judge Forster told the jury: ‘She told officers that her earliest memory was of lying on the grass in a park with a man lying on top of her. She said that she could remember that she had her underwear and stockings pulled down to her ankles and that her dress and jacket were pulled up.
“She told the police that she felt pain in her hip area because the first man was having sex with her.
The jury was told how the teenager described how she felt like she “couldn’t move” or “control her movements or her speech”. She described it as “just laying there” and “accepting it and waiting for it to be over.”
Roden, seen outside Southwark Crown Court, said when arrested: “I’m not a rapist.”
He said man two, the defendant, and then approached in the dark. She couldn’t see where she had come from, and she heard him ask the man ‘can I try?’ the judge said.
‘She told police that man one told man two ‘no, that’s a little weird.’
“She recalled man one looking down and saying man one then looking back at man two and saying, ‘well actually when I’m gone you can do whatever you want with her.'”
Man Two then positioned himself on top of her and the defendant began to have sexual intercourse with her.
‘The victim said he was disheveled… and didn’t look very well groomed. He remembers crying at the time and didn’t have “much control over the actions of his body or brain.”
“The next thing she remembers is waking up alone in the park,” Judge Forster said.
Roden claimed that he had “seen a man and a woman in the park having sex,” the judge told the jury.
He claims he walked up to the couple and “bumped the other man’s fist” before asking, “Let me get involved bro.”
Roden claims that he then had sex with her for 15 to 20 minutes.
“He told the police that she was in full control of her actions and senses, but that she smelled of alcohol … and that she was screaming with pleasure and having a great time,” the judge said.
The Southwark Crown Court jury (pictured) also heard that Roden has convictions for assault, harassment, criminal mischief and threatening behaviour.
CCTV evidence showed the victim and the unknown man climbing the park’s locked gates, with the girl needing help to climb.
“She doesn’t remember leaving McDonald’s, going to heaven, leaving heaven with that man and going to the gardens,” Roden’s attorney, Alexander Taylor-Camara, told jurors.
She was clearly determined to go to the park with that male. We can see her waiting for him.
‘We know that the two engaged in sexual activities. It was a crowded area that night and the teen said, “Even if people saw us, they would say, ‘Some people are having sex in the park.'”
‘I don’t see how anyone didn’t see or do anything.’
The defense attorney reminded jurors that she also said: “In my mind I was saying ‘no,’ but I don’t think I said it loud enough for them to hear.”
I don’t know if I said no.
Mr. Taylor-Camara, defending, told the jury in his closing remarks: “Mr. Roden says, and has repeatedly said, ‘I did not rape her.’
Roden ‘believes she was consenting to what happened and bluntly said ‘f**k me’
“Drunken consent is still consent, we know that as adults, and with life experiences, when people drink, inhibitions are removed.
‘So when you consent when you are uninhibited by drink, you are still consent.’
Roden told police in an interview that at the time of the assault he had been sleeping rough for six months, had not showered in five months, and was “wanted up north” to be called to prison.
He said he spent most of his days “begging for money and smoking spices” after he was arrested and taken to the Holborn police station.
He accepted having unprotected sex with the young woman but denies having raped her.
The jury also heard that Roden has convictions for assault, harassment, criminal mischief and threatening behavior.
The trial continues.