A woman was gang-raped by a chef and a kitchen porter after enjoying a family dinner to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday party at the oldest restaurant in London, a jury was told today.
The alleged victim, who was aged 40 years at the time, had become separated from her husband following an argument later in the evening and had wandered down the street, a prosecutor said.
She was spotted by Constantin Ionescu and Nicolae Dragoi, who had both just finished their respective 15 hour shifts at Côte restaurant, the French Brasserie chain, the court heard.
The 36-year-old and the 42-year-old, both Romanian nationals, raped the victim three times in three different ways in an alleyway next to a public library during the early hours of December 9 2018, the jury heard.
Constantin Ionescu (left, captured on CCTV) and Nicolae Dragoi (right) are accused of raping the woman three times
When Mr Dragoi, a married father-of-one, was interviewed by police following his arrest, the court heard he had said: ‘The lady raped us actually.’
Opening the case for the prosecution, Oliver Dunkin said: ‘This is an unusual case of rape because this is what we would refer to in shorthand as a stranger rape, the kind of rape that you would be used to seeing in films and on television, an unusual kind where the victim was not known at all to the two people who attacked her.
‘It is not only that but it is, of course, not a single person who attacked her. It is, for all intents and purposes, a gang rape.
‘What these two defendants did was to prey on a lady who was extremely drunk, seemingly very emotional at the end of a night out she had had with her family and her husband.’
Pictured: Rules in Covent Garden, central London, where the woman had eaten before she was allegedly raped
In a police interview following the alleged rape, the woman had told police how she and her family had spent the day shopping in Covent Garden, followed by dinner at Rules in Covent Garden, the oldest restaurant in London, where they had enjoyed wine with their meal.
Together with her husband, the woman had returned to their home town of Farnham, Surrey, where they decided to have some more drinks at The William Cobbett public house.
By the time the woman left the pub, she had consumed approximately two and a half times the drink-drive limit, the court heard.
Mr Dunkin told the jury at Guildford Crown Court: ‘She has two distinct memories. One of them was running and screaming up and down Farnham High Street, exhausted and out of breath.
‘The next memory is of being held down on the ground by more than one person, of being face down and pressed towards the ground. She remembered being held by the wrists. She felt wet Tarmac underneath her and she could not recall any street lights. It was like a dream. The next recollection is of flashing lights and of laying in a pool of vomit.’
Meanwhile, the jury heard, the woman’s husband had been walking up and down the street shouting for her and had called her phone 48 times. He was also intoxicated and could not recall how he had arrived home.
Another couple, who were also returning home from a night out, spotted what they thought was a man and woman having sex in an alleyway next to Farnham Library, the jury was told.
The woman of the couple had gone to take a closer look, Mr Dunkin said, adding: ‘What she saw was what she thought was a female in a red dress, unconscious on the floor with two men standing over her, talking. They stopped talking when they saw her.
‘She said the female was not moving and appeared unconscious. She was scared for herself and the female she had seen who she thought had been raped. When she got home, she rang 999.’
An ambulance and police were scrambled to the scene of the attack, where they found the victim unconscious on the floor.
Police bodycam footage recorded during the ambulance’s journey to the hospital, which was shown to the jury, revealed the blonde-haired woman appearing incoherent and crying while saying: ‘I mean, who cares. No-one cares!’
Ionescu and Dragoi were both arrested following a police CCTV appeal which was released on December 15, including pictures of the two in which Ionescu was shown bearded and wearing a baseball cap and Dragoi was shown wearing a coat with a big collar, with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth.
The jury of three men and nine women heard the two defendants had been out together after work at The Wheatsheaf pub when the stills were captured and they were both identified by their manager at the Côte restaurant where they both worked in Farnham.
Mr Dunkin said: ‘Mr Ionescu was arrested at his home address at 5am on December 17, about eight days later. He said words like, he was here for money, not to cause any issue. When taken into custody, he said: ‘The female approached me’.
‘When he was arrested, Mr Dragoi raised his arms in apparent confusion but made no other comment.’
The defendants’ mobile phones were seized when they were arrested, Mr Dunkin said, which showed Ionescu had been looking at an appeal in the Farnham Herald which included the CCTV images of him and Dragoi.
Mr Dunkin said: ‘It is a screenshot taken from Mr Ionescu’s mobil phone, taken in the early hours of December 16. That photograph clearly shows the two defendants and Mr Ionescu has a clear and prominent beard.
‘From his phone as well is a selfie, taken later that day on December 16 and gone is the beard. Every other picture of him on that phone shows him with a beard.’
A forensic examination of the woman following the rape found DNA evidence which matched with the defendants, the jury heard. The evidence pointed to Dragoi penetrating the woman twice while Ionescu had raped her once, the prosecutor said. However, both of them faced three counts of rape because prosecutors said they acted together.
Mr Dunkin added: ‘It is not suggested that each defendant did each act. This is what we call a joint enterprise. In other words, if you like, “in it together”.’
Both defendants were interviewed before and after the DNA evidence was recovered, the court heard. Ionescu had provided a prepared statement in which he denied the rape before answering ‘no comment’, the prosecutor said.
In his interview, Dragoi had said the two had come across the woman but claimed she had kissed him on the lips out of the blue and then tried to bite his penis, but he was not sexually attracted to her, the court heard. He said they had run away when they saw a member of the public taking photos, the jury were told.
Mr Dunkin said: ‘Mr Dragoi was interviewed again. He was asked if there was anything he wished to say in light of the DNA evidence very, very firmly to the contrary. He went on to tell the police: “The lady raped us actually. We did not do anything.” She, according to him, wanted to have sex no matter what. He said she was already undressed.
‘He said she seemed drunk, on drugs, or just mad and he and his friend approached her to see if she was okay as she was banging her head on shop windows and swearing.’
Ionescu, of Farnham, and Dragoi, also of Farnham, both deny three counts of rape. The trial continues.