Saudi Arabian student denies raping “screaming and crying” woman at Portsmouth student halls

Waleed Alharbi is on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of the rape and attempted rape of the woman, aged in her 30s, at his student accommodation in Greetham Street, Portsmouth, in the early hours of June 28.

The 26-year-old, who was studying at a language school in the Hampshire city, said he met the complainant at the Astoria nightclub, where he had drunk four glasses of vodka and Sprite during a three-hour period.

Alharbi, who told the court he worked as an airport maintenance manager in Saudi Arabia while studying for a finance degree at a university in the Middle Eastern country, said the alcohol did not affect him much.

He said he began dancing with the complainant and said: “I liked her and I noticed she liked me back as well.”

The defendant, speaking through a translator, rated his English at the time as three out of 10 and said the complainant spoke “simple English” to him and offered to help him learn.

He said: “She was fully accepting me and I didn’t feel there was any barrier between us, as if I knew this person for a very long time, when I drink I become open so I had feelings towards her.”

Alharbi said after the nightclub closed, they decided to go to his flat “to continue partying” and they held hands as they walked, before he carried her part of the way because she was tired.

He said they each had a friend with them who both left at one point to buy a plaster for him after he banged his head.

The defendant said he and the complainant began kissing and said: “She is up for it, because that is what I felt from her body language, she was producing encouraging noises, it was a romantic moment, we were totally for it with each other, the flames were increasing.”

He said after they were interrupted by a neighbour, they moved to the bedroom. Alharbi said the complainant had a shower and he joined her before they consensually had sex in the bedroom. He said she entered the room willingly and did not complain about what was happening.

The court heard Alharbi is accused of attempting to rape the complainant in the bathroom of his apartment before raping her in his bedroom.

Prosecutor Mike Mason told the court earlier this week how Alharbi pushed the complainant down in the shower area and turned it on before he attempted to rape her. The woman was “crying and screaming”, he added.

The prosecutor said the complainant believed she banged her head and passed out but woke to find the defendant raping her on his bed. She attempted to resist and told him: “No, no, do not do this.”

The defendant denies both charges and the trial continues.