Owen Labrie
Jim Cole / AP
The teenage girl accusing a former St. Paul School student of raping her as part of the elite prep school’s tradition known as “Senior Salute” broke down and cried on the stand Wednesday as she graphically described the alleged assault, saying she was worried about offending her alleged attacker.
Owen Labrie, 19, is on trial in New Hampshire for allegedly luring the then freshman girl to the top of a math and science building and raping her in May 2014. In the second day of the trial, the girl, who was 15 at the time of the alleged assault, testified that she felt scared and violated.
The following account was live-tweeted by several reporters in the courtroom, including from The New York Times, NH1, NECN, and the Concord Monitor.
The girl said Labrie invited her to hang out as part of “Senior Salute” the school’s end-of-the year tradition whereby seniors – male and female – invite underclassman to hang out.
She initially turned down Labrie’s invitation, she said, claiming that she thought “it came with bad intentions,” and that it was “too condescendingly sweet.” She said that while some girls feel honored to receive a Senior Salute, she didn’t.
Labrie persisted, she said, and she ultimately decided to accept the invite. The girl, now 16, said she’d expected they would kiss, but nothing more. The two allegedly entered an unauthorized part of campus and the girl said Labrie began kissing her.
Recent St. Paul's School graduate Owen Labrie, second from left, stands between his lawyers J.W. Carney, left, and Sam Zaganjori, as prosecutor Catherine Ruffle walks by.
Jim Cole / AP
She graphically described how their sexual encounter quickly escalated. She let him take her shirt off, she said, because she didn’t want to offend him. The girl began crying when she described how Labrie allegedly ripped her bra off. She said Labrie tried removing her underwear and that she said “no” while trying to be as polite as possible. The girl was worried about causing conflict and did not want to come off as “bitchy.”
“I didn’t know how to deal with it because I’ve never been in a situation like this,” she testified in court, while crying. “I’d never been touched in that way.”
The teen then said Labrie pulled her underwear to the side and raped her. When he was done she testified that he said, "well that was fun," before dressing himself and leaving her alone in the room.
"I didn't kick or scream or really push," she said in court. " I didn't. But I did say no. I said no three times."
The alleged victim said she was worried about causing stress and told herself to “not be dramatic,” because it was graduation weekend. Once prodded by friends after the alleged assault, the accuser asked Labrie if he wore a condom, and he said he put one on half way through. He asked her if she was on birth control.
The girl said she visited the school nurse and asked for Plan B. When the nurse asked her if the sex was consensual, she said it was because "it was so much easier ... It's been really hard to stand up."
Labrie has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty and claiming he never actually had sex with the girl, his lawyer, J.W. Carney said in court Tuesday.
When asked about friendly, affectionate emails the two exchanged following the alleged assault in which they called each other “gem” and “angel”, the girl said, “I didn’t want to be weak. I wanted to control a situation where I’d completely lost control.”
The girl's testimony will continue following a lunch break. This is a developing story.
LINK: New Hampshire Rape Trial Calls Into Question Elite School’s Tradition Of Sexual Competition
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1Nv8gBv
No comments:
Post a Comment