Top swimmer accused of raping teenager after night out

A top Welsh swimmer is on trial for the alleged rape of a teenager in Cardiff after a night out.

Commonwealth Games swimmer Otto Putland, 23, is accused of forcing himself on the 19-year-old woman after she'd had consensual sex with his best friend.

The young woman alleges Mr Putland entered the room, before switching off the bedroom light and closing the door behind him.

In a police interview read out in court, the girl said: "Otto asked if I was the girl from the club earlier.

"Otto came in and started taking his shoes off. So I texted my friend for help because I thought something might happen.

"I told him: 'What are you doing? You can't just pass me around'. He said 'We're not passing you around'.

"I told him I didn't want to have sex with him and he kept trying to kiss me.

"Then he took off his boxers... I was crying and turning my head away from him."

The woman said Mr Putland suggested they just kiss, but then penetrated her.

She said she ran to the bathroom to phone her friend for help, before blacking out.

Cardiff Crown Court was told the next thing she remembered was being woken by her friend calling back, only to find herself back in the bed with Putland having sex with her.

Prosecutor Janet McDonald said: "She is a lady just out of school, celebrating freedom from exams.

"She did not consent with Putland. She did not consent to being passed around."

The allegation was not reported to police until July last year - 16 months after the alleged rape.

Miss McDonald said this was because the girl - who is now 22 - was "upset and annoyed with herself".

Mr Putland denies raping the woman and says the pair had consensual sex after the girl began flirting with him.

He said: "She spoke normally to me. I was on the bed and moved up so I was against the headboard.

"She was flirtatious to me and we started kissing.

"She didn't say anything to make me believe she didn't want to engage.

"She hadn't said anything about being passed around at that point. Had she done so, I would not have had sex.

"It lasted about a minute. Then she said she felt like she'd been passed around. She sounded frustrated.

"I said: 'OK, let's get your stuff and you can go now' - and I let her out.

"It wasn't a memorable evening. I didn't know her name; where she was from."

Timothy Evans, defending, warned the jury about the "subtleties" involved in the case.

He also pointed out no text sent by the girl to a friend asking for help had ever been found, and called witness statements from the girl's friends "ridiculous" due to their contradicting accounts.

Mr Evans said: "There's nothing consistent at all in the evidence from the witnesses.

"Putland does not know why she has made this up."

Mr Putland, of Dinedor, Hereford, denies two counts of rape. The trial continues.