Navy officer cadet admits climbing back into bed with rape accused

A Royal Navy officer cadet has admitted that she climbed back into bed with the man she alleges raped her twice following a training college ball while she was "too drunk to consent".

Samuel Mitchell, who is now a sub lieutenant, is accused of going into the room of the cadet at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in Dartmouth, Devon, following a Victory in Europe Day party on May 8 last year.

The 27-year-old is accused at a trial at Portsmouth Naval Base's court martial centre of raping her without a condom and then fetching a condom when she protested against him not using contraception, before raping her a second time.

He denies two counts of rape.

The complainant has said that she was too drunk to consent and had remained passive during the incident to express her non-compliance.

The court has heard that she had drunk four glasses of Pimms, a glass of red wine, some Champagne, and a double gin and tonic and had been carried back to her room by her friends.

Nick Lewin, defending Mitchell, said to her: "After a period of time, you have sobered up somewhat, after you had no doubt what Mitchell was, you got dressed into your pyjamas and you got back into bed with a man who has raped you twice, Why?"

She replied: "All I can say is I wanted to fall asleep, I can't explain more than that, I think I couldn't process, I just wanted to fall asleep, that's all I can remember."

The complainant also admitted that when asked by Mitchell for baby oil, she had handed him a tub of moisturiser, which he then massaged on her back.

She said: "This is one of the things I have struggled with, I became compliant, I cannot explain that, that was one of the points where I became compliant."

The complainant has described how she had been unable to "articulate" her wish not to have sex with the defendant other than by remaining passive, and early on crossing her arms across her chest and saying "No sex".

She also said that she had said "No" when he asked for a naked cuddle afterwards and when he said he would "f***" her again in the morning, she said "No you won't."

She said: "I have struggled over the past year why I wasn't able to articulate anything any differently, but the meaning was obvious, there was no consent whatsoever.

"It was more in my actions that I was able to articulate effectively, that I was completely passive, that I put my arms across my chest and it was obvious from the start that I was not complicit."

She added: "I had been returned to my room, I was asleep in my cabin and he entered my cabin uninvited, I think the starting point is I wasn't a willing participant in this at all."

Admitting that she experienced an orgasm, she said: "That was an involuntary reaction. It's at that point I grabbed hold of him but it was not something I wished to happen. It was an involuntary reaction and it's not something I fully understand.

"It was after I had been violated, to me that was not consent. I have struggled to explain to myself what happened, I have managed by suppressing much of it, I will have to deal with it later."