Jury retires in trial of Commonwealth Games swimmer who denies rape

The jury in the case of a Commonwealth Games swimmer accused of raping a woman after a night out has retired to consider its verdict.

Otto Putland, 24, who represented Wales in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, faces one count of raping a woman, who had just had sex with his friend, Olympic swimmer Ieuan Lloyd.

The court heard the woman went home with Lloyd to his address in Cardiff after meeting him in a club in the city in July 2015 and had consensual sex with him there.

The prosecution allege that, shortly afterwards, Putland arrived at the address and went into the room where the woman was, raping her after Lloyd left the room.

Putland, of Dinedor, near Hereford, denies rape and told jurors they had consensual sex but that the woman became upset afterwards saying she felt as if she had been passed around.

Sending the jury out on Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Jenkins reminded them of the evidence in the case having previously urged them not to allow emotion to enter into their deliberations.

The court heard Putland started having sex with the woman after getting on to the bed with her but stopped when she said she needed to use the bathroom.

The woman said she called her friend from the bathroom, saying she needed to leave and the next thing she remembered was hearing her phone ring and being back in the bed with Putland inside her again.

Jurors were told that incident had originally been charged as a second count of rape but that another jury had found Putland not guilty of that offence.

In her closing speech, Janet McDonald said the woman did not have a strong or assertive personality but had been "credible, consistent and clear" in her account of what had happened.

She said the woman had "no motive for putting herself through a trial once let alone twice".

"The only motive is to see the truth acknowledged and that truth is that she was raped," she said.

Putland told jurors Lloyd introduced him to the woman after he returned to the house and they started chatting.

He said he wasn't sure when Lloyd had left but described the woman as "very friendly and happy and flirtatious" and said they had consensual sex.

In his closing speech, Christopher Rees, for the defence, said the quality of evidence from prosecution witnesses had been affected by "memory issues" and "in some cases by self-justification".

He said this was not a "court of morals" and added: "Bad sex is not rape.

"Sex after one party has persuaded the other to have sex consensually is not rape.

"Regretted sex is not rape."

Mr Rees said there had been "glaring inconsistencies" in what the woman told people at various times about the night.

"She had the opportunity to say 'no' and she did not say anything," he said.

"She did not stop it. She did not call out to Ieuan Lloyd. She did not call out to anyone at all.

"From that you can infer that she did consent or may have consented."

The trial continues.

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