Rape accused claims alleged victim ‘sent mixed messages’

Tuesday 09 April 2019

A man accused of raping and sexually assaulting a woman at a hotel told Police that “she said no and yes and yes and no” while they were being intimate together, as he protested his innocence.

Hours of taped Police interviews were played to a jury today, during which Brett Kean (41) denied raping a fellow guest at the Sandranne Hotel in 2016, claiming that she had sent mixed messages to his advances on two occasions when the pair were alone together.

After testimony from the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, the Royal Court today heard from the defendant himself.

Repeating to Police “I didn’t rape her” and “I didn’t f*****g rape her”, Mr Kean insisted that on the night that the woman (Miss X) claims he raped her, they didn’t have sexual intercourse, but just engaged in intimate touching.

Pictured: The incident is alleged to have taken place at the Sandranne Hotel in 2016.

Mr Kean told Police officers who interviewed him after the alleged victim made her complaint against him that “if she tell[s] me to stop then I stopped”, adding that “other men might do different things".

“I understand that there’s a lot of people out there who do do things, a lot of perverts, I’m not a pervert, I don’t always stare at women,” Mr Kean urged.

Elsewhere in his Police interview, Mr Kean said that on the night in question, he and Miss X didn’t have sexual intercourse, but he admitted that he did touch her intimately.

Mr Kean also described Miss X as “pedantic” and “touch moody” when she hadn’t consumed alcohol: “She’s a little bit pedantic. She can be when she’s not had a drink, she’s a little bit touch moody. I’m quite a touch- I’m quite a social person I touch people… Not everyone likes it I understand." 

Pictured: The trial is taking place in the Royal Court.

Answering more questions from the Police officers trying to ascertain what exactly transpired between the pair during the six-day period in July 2016, Mr Kean remarked: “I feel like I’m being grilled like a proper rapist here…”

It isn’t in dispute that the pair had consensual sex after drinking together in the hotel bar on a previous occasion. However, the prosecution say that Mr Kean became increasingly obsessed with Miss X in the days following this encounter and began harassing her by repeatedly calling her mobile, sending her texts at night and trying to gain entry to her room against her wishes. 

The alleged victim claims that when she was in her room with the 41-year-old trying to get him to delete her number, he forced her down onto the bed, and penetrated her with two fingers before raping her.

Earlier in the day, during cross-examination from Mr Kean’s lawyer Advocate Francesca Pinel, Miss X denied giving Mr Kean mixed messages.

The Defence Advocate took the woman through a timeline of her interactions with Mr Kean, telling her: “You can see how this would be confusing for him, can’t you?”

Pictured: Testifying before the Court, the alleged victim denied that she sent mixed messages to Mr Kean.

The woman said that on the day of the alleged assault, she had spent 36 minutes on the phone trying to convince the accused to delete her number from his phone, before agreeing to meet him to do it herself. 

“It seems counter-productive that you would ask him to come to your room in those circumstances,” Advocate Pinel said, to which the alleged victim replied her only goal was to get Mr Kean to erase her number.

She said that on the way to her room she told Mr Kean how “uncomfortable” she was with his behaviour, also denying that she voluntarily lay down on the bed, instead saying that Mr Kean “aggressively manoeuvred” her under him. 

The woman said she repeatedly said no and that roughly every five or six times, Mr Kean would periodically tell her “you don’t mean it".

“I made it very clear I was saying no,” the woman insisted. 

“You made up these allegations,” Advocate Pinel suggested. “You regretted having sex with him a second time… Having done so, you were concerned you couldn’t get out of the situation with him. That’s why you made up the allegations.”

Answering further questions from Crown Advocate David Steenson, who appears for the prosecution, the woman maintained that she had said “no and only no”. 

The trial continues.

Catch up with the case...

Alleged rape victim secretly recorded conversations with accused

Alleged rapist 'made "disgusting" comments after attack'