A 16-YEAR-OLD girl was raped by a man twice her age after having a Chinese meal with him at his bedsit, it was alleged.The girl was pushed back onto a bed and forced to have sex with 33-year-old Stephen Barratt, Ipswich Crown Court was told yesterday.
A 16-YEAR-OLD girl was raped by a man twice her age after having a Chinese meal with him at his bedsit, a court heard.
The girl was pushed on to a bed and forced to have sex with Stephen Barratt, 33, Ipswich Crown Court was told yesterday.
Afterwards Barratt allegedly told the girl to "sort herself out" and not to tell anyone what had happened.
However, the girl ran from Barratt's home in Clapgate Lane, Ipswich, into the town centre and told a friend she had been raped.
Several months later Barratt allegedly went to a house where the girl was babysitting and raped her again.
This time Barratt was said to have forced her on to a settee and had sex with her against her will.
The following day the girl again told her friend she had been raped, said Amanda Rippon, prosecuting.
Barratt has denied two offences of rape and five of indecent assault.
Miss Rippon said the indecency offences related to two schoolgirls.
She claimed that Barratt had kissed one of the girls on the mouth "like he wanted to eat her up" and then allegedly rubbed her thigh through her trousers.
On another occasion he allegedly forced the girl's legs apart and looked up her skirt before kissing her on the mouth.
He also allegedly asked the girl for a hug and then kissed her on the mouth and squeezed her buttocks.
Miss Rippon claimed that Barratt had also rubbed his hand up another schoolgirl's thigh and had given her a love bite on her neck.
Giving evidence yesterday, that girl told the court she had thought about the allegations she had made and now believed that Barratt had not been acting in a sexual way when he had touched her thigh and given her a love bite.
She had recently told the police that she did not want the matter to come to court.
The court heard that after his arrest Barratt described the alleged indecent assaults on one of the girls as fiction.
He denied rubbing the other girl's thigh, although he did admit he may accidentally have caused a mark on her neck while they were messing around.
He denied having sexual intercourse with the 16-year-old girl or raping her.
The trial continues.
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