[ad_1]
A police officer accused of raping a woman on their first date turned up at her house drunk before stripping naked and attacking her, a court has heard.
Michael Darbyshire, 55, went after the woman to demonstrate ‘control, power and to satisfy his own sexual cravings and demands,’ jurors were told.
The West Mercia Police officer is accused of sexually assaulting the woman on November 8, 2018, before raping her the next day.
In her police statement, the victim told how Darbyshire molested her in the beer garden of the White Hart pub in Fernhill Heath, Worcestershire.
She said she met him for a drink after being introduced to him a few days earlier by a mutual friend who worked for the police.
He also allegedly sexually assaulted a second woman on August 29, 2019, after he met her on dating site Match.com.
Michael Darbyshire (right), 55, attacked the women to demonstrate ‘control, power and to satisfy his own sexual cravings and demands,’ jurors were told
Worcester Crown Court was told the first woman was left feeling ‘dirty, abused and violated’.
Jurors were told he arrived at her home drunk in the early hours after meeting her in a pub and stripped completely naked before attacking her.
Giving evidence today the woman told how he had earlier forcibly kissed her in the beer garden in a ‘horrific’ manner.
She said: ‘He put his mouth over my mouth and I didn’t have any control over that at all, I didn’t want to kiss him because I had lipstick on.
‘I did not agree to be kissed that way I have never been kissed that way. If that is how Mr Darbyshire thinks that women want to be kissed I think it’s horrific.
‘I almost fainted. I was embarrassed, very embarrassed. The way he kissed me wasn’t the way a normal person would kiss somebody.’
Darbyshire is alleged to have later driven to the woman’s home while heavily intoxicated where he went on to rape and sexually assault her.
The West Mercia Police officer (pictured) is accused of sexually assaulting the first woman on November 8, 2018, before raping her the next day
She said: ‘At around 1am I called him because I had about 12 missed calls on my phone, I hadn’t answered any of them.
‘I didn’t fancy him, I phoned him because I was genuinely concerned whether he actually managed to get home because of the state he was in.
‘I didn’t invite him over. I think I may have explained to him where I lived earlier on in the pub which was very early on when he wasn’t so drunk.
‘I didn’t realise he was in the car until he rang me and said he was lost and didn’t know where he was.
‘I waved him in to get him off the road so he wouldn’t kill somebody else or kill someone else because he was intoxicated and driving a motor vehicle.
‘I still believed that he was a police officer and that this must have been completely out of character for him and that he doesn’t normally go around sexually assaulting people he had just met.
‘At that time I wasn’t scared of him I actually thought I could trust this man. Obviously I know now that I can’t.
‘I was downstairs having a glass of wine and I asked him if he wanted a drink and he had a glass of wine, which he didn’t drink.’
She continued: ‘He wasn’t actually falling all over the place and he managed to sober himself up.
‘Not at any point were we snogging each other. I was happy sat down talking to him at no point did I snog Mr Darbyshire.
‘I have no idea what he took off first but I was actually gobsmacked when I turned around and saw him completely naked.
‘I am pretty sure I was looking on my phone at some music because I wanted to put some on and I was fully clothed as the house was cold. I didn’t see him at any point take his clothes off and watch him take them off.
‘I don’t know how I got upstairs. I have no idea I went very tired and dizzy and was totally unaware that I was actually in bed until the early hours of the morning.
‘I have no recollection of going upstairs at all. I do not remember going to bed at any stage. My clothes weren’t where I would normally put them, they were in a pile on the floor.
‘I have already said numerous times throughout the evening that I didn’t want a sexual relationship until I got to know Mr Darbyshire.
‘I don’t remember going to bed and seeing Mr Darbyshire getting undressed because he had already got undressed downstairs.’
In her police statement, the victim told how Darbyshire molested her in the beer garden of the White Hart pub in Fernhill Heath, Worcestershire (general view pictured)
A week later – on November 17 – the woman text a friend saying: ‘Hi I know we’ve been friends for a few years but last weekend I was sexually assaulted by someone and I can’t report it because I don’t stand a chance.
‘I’m really sorry but he knows where I live and it’s taken me a week to tell anyone. I have no evidence so it’s my word against his.’
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reason, added: ‘I phoned my mum but I just didn’t know how to tell her she’s in her 70s and I didn’t want to upset her.
‘I did honestly feel that I didn’t stand a chance and didn’t think that anybody would believe me.
‘I did think I was to blame for something to make him do that to me. I felt so dirty, so abused and violated my whole body did.
‘I trusted him because he was a police officer. I did have trust in people but that’s all gone now.’
Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said Darbyshire sexually assaulted a second woman on August 29, 2019, after he met her on dating site Match.com.
He said: ‘The offences were of a similar nature. He accompanied his actions with what can best be summarised as humiliating abuse.
‘That is significant because it demonstrates what this activity was about. It was all about control, power and satisfying his own sexual cravings and demands.’
Darbyshire’s address is not being released after he received death threats from a person who followed him in his car and made cut-throat gestures to him.
He denies one count of rape and five counts of sexual assault. The trial, which is expected to last six days, continues.
[ad_2]
Source link
