New Delhi: 23-year-old swimmer Otto Putland, who had represented Wales during the 2014 Commonwealth Games allegedly raped a 19-year-old woman for having consensual sex with his friend who is also a swimmer, the jury was informed.
The woman, as reported, slept with his Putland's friend, Ieuan Lloyd, who had represented his nation both in 2012 and 2016 Olympics. The woman, however, claimed that Lloyd had “abandoned” her and had called instead called in Putland into the room before switching off the lights.
The police interview read out in court revealed that the woman said, "Otto and Ieuan were both having a conversation outside the room with the door open. Otto asked if I was the girl from the club earlier. Otto came in and started taking his shoes off."
“I thought something might happen,” she added as she informed her friend about the incident through a text message.
She continued, “I told him: ‘What are you doing – you can’t just pass me around’. He said: ‘We’re not passing you around.’
“I told him I didn’t want to have sex with him and he kept trying to kiss me. Then he took off his boxers. He asked – ‘Do you want me to put a condom on?’ I was crying and turning my head away from him.”
She added that the athlete had assaulted her after which she lost her consciousness. She regained her senses to find herself in bed with Putland.
However, all such claims have been shrugged off by Putland who denies the entire incident.
Janet McDonald, the prosecutor, said, “She is a lady just out of school, celebrating freedom from exams. She fell for Mr. Lloyd, an adonis. The man with a six pack.
“Was she naive? It matters not. With him it was consensual intercourse. But she did not consent with Putland. She did not consent to being passed around. When Mr. Lloyd abandoned her, as she said, he was no help to her.”
The woman had lodged a complaint 16 months after the incident, in July 2016, owing to her being upset and annoyed with herself”, as said by McDonald.
Putland rubbishing off the claims said that the two had met at Lloyd's place in Cardiff. He added that the two had consensual sex after she had begun flirting with him, although Putland didn't know her name by then.
He said, “She spoke normally to me. I was on the bed and moved up so I was against the headboard. She was flirtatious to me and we started kissing.
“She didn’t say anything to make me believe she didn’t want to engage. She hadn’t said anything about being passed around at that point. Had she done so I would not have had sex.
“It lasted about a minute. Then she said she felt like she’d been passed around. She sounded frustrated. I said: ‘OK let’s get your stuff and you can go now’ and I let her out. It wasn’t a memorable evening. I didn’t know her name, where she was from.”
