Rough sleeper accused of assault said: ‘Let me get involved’

A rough sleeper accused of raping a student fist-bumped another man who had just had sex with her and said ‘let me get involved brother’, a court heard today (mon).

Wesley Roden, 33, stumbled upon the 18-year-old in Victoria Embankment Gardens as she was being abused by the known man, who is on the run.

Summing up the case this morning (Mon) Judge Tom Forster KC told jurors at Southwark
Crown the alleged victim had recently] turned 18.

On the evening of 16 August 2019, the teenager, along with two other friends had, started the night at the club ‘XOYO’ in Shoreditch before heading west to the night cub ‘Heaven.’

‘One of the friends said they drank some vodka on the tube, with sprite as a mixer, the size of the vodka bottle was about 10 inches in height, and they all shared.

‘As individuals, one of the friends said they didn’t really know how to handle alcohol and ‘idn’t know when to stop drinking.

‘She said in her view they were all really gone,’ said Judge Forster.

‘They all trooped down to ‘Heaven’; one friend was refused admission because she was very drunk, so they decided to go to McDonald’s.

‘The two friends realised that the victim hadn’t returned from the toilet, when they realised that she hadn’t comeback they went to go check and she wasn’t in the cubicles.

‘One of the friends said that wasn’t ‘typical behaviour’, [the victim] doesn’t just go off’ she is ‘sensible’…both of them approached a security guard who indicted they thought the victim had left [McDonald’s] and turned left,’ Judge Forster continued.

Jurors heard how the alleged victim’s friends, unsuccessfully tried to track down her down by calling her phone.

‘They then proceeded to take the night bus from Trafalgar Square back to High Barnet.’

In her interview the alleged victim told police ‘she was 10/10 drunk’.

Judge Forster told the jury: ‘She told officers her first memory was lying on the grass in a park with a man lying over her. She said that she could recall her underwear and tights were down around her ankles and her dress and jacket were pulled up.

‘She told police she felt pain in the area of her hips because, the first male, was having intercourse with her.

‘She described how she felt she ‘couldn’t move’ or ‘control either her movements or her speech.’

She described it as ‘just kind of laying there’ and ‘accepting it and waiting for it to be over.

‘She said male two, the defendant, then came over in the darkness. She couldn’t see where he had come from, and she heard him ask male one ‘could I have a go’.

‘She told police male one said to male two ‘no, that’s a bit weird.’

‘She recalled male one looking down and said male one then looked back at male two and said, ‘well actually, when I leave you can do what you want with her.’

‘Male two was then positioned over her and the defendant then started having sexual intercourse with her.

‘The victim said he was scruffy…and did not look very well put together.

‘She remembers crying at that point and didn’t have ‘much control over her body or brain’s actions.

‘The next thing she remembers is waking up alone at the park’ said Judge Forster.

Roden, of Museum Street, Warrington, Cheshire, claimed he had had ‘seen a man and woman in the park having sex,’ the judge said.

‘He approached [the pair] and fist bumped the other male and spoke.’

Roden asked the other man ‘let me get involved brother’.

The judge continued: ‘He (Roden) says he had sex with her for 15 to 20 minutes.

‘He told police she was completely in control of her actions and senses but did smell of alcohol…and that she was screaming with pleasure and had the time of her life.#

Roden told police in interview that at the time of the assault he had been sleeping rough for six months, had not had a shower in five months and was ‘wanted up north’ for a recall to prison.

The jury has heard he has convictions for assault, harassment, criminal damage and threatening behaviour.

Alexander Taylor-Camara, defending, told jurors in her closing speech: ‘Mr Roden says, and has said repeatedly, ‘I did not rape her’.

Roden ‘believes she was consenting to what happened and bluntly she said ‘f–k me’

‘Drunken consent is still consent, we know being adults, and what with experiences in life that when people do drink it takes away inhibitions.

‘So then when you consent when disinhibited by drink it’s still nevertheless consent.’

Roden said he spent most of his days ‘begging for money and smoking spice’ after he was arrested and taken to Holborn police station.

He accepted he had unprotected sex with the young woman but denies rape.

The trial continues.

ends