‘I fought with every ounce of strength’

Alleged Irish victim of rape in the US told no one at home of ordeal

The Irish woman who has travelled to Long Island to face the man she accuses of rape told nobody at home about her ordeal.

In the summer of 2013, the then J1 student was partying with a group of friends along with a former Goldman Sachs banker at his holiday home in the Hamptons.

She also testified yesterday she used every ounce of strength she had left to kick her alleged attacker off after he began to rape her.

Identified in court by her first name, the woman, when cross-examined by Andrew Lankler who is representing the defendant, Jason Lee, revealed she had not told her parents or anybody else who was not in New York at the time of the incident.

Having spent the summer elsewhere in the country, she was visiting her brother in Montauk at the end of her summer stay in the US and had joined him and his Irish friends on a night out which ended up at the upscale East Hampton nightclub, Georgica.

When back at the house, the young woman alleges Mr Lee followed her in to a downstairs bathroom as she attempted to change her clothes after a swim.

“At first I thought it was [her friend who also testified in court yesterday]. It wouldn’t be a big deal for her to do that.”

But her alleged attacker was standing naked on the other side of the door, she testified. “I laughed... ‘what are you doing, this is crazy?’” she said before trying to push the door.

“I said, ‘if my brother sees you he’s going to kill you. I know it’s your house but this is not OK’.

“I wasn’t expecting him to do that... I tripped and fell back.”

She claims he then climbed on top of her and forced her hands to the side of her head. “I didn’t understand what was happening. I shouted ‘get off me’. I couldn’t understand why when I told him to get off me, he wouldn’t get off me.”

She claims she called her friend but he told her to “shut the fuck up” and proceeded to rape her.

“With every ounce of strength I had, I lifted my leg up and kneed him in the groin. I couldn’t believe it happened. I took my dress off because it was disgusting.”

During cross-examination, the court was shown cordial pictures of the alleged victim and alleged attacker both at the nightclub and back at the house.

Her testimony was also cross-checked against a police statement given on the day of the incident in which she said her brother was not outside the bathroom when she left. In court, she said he and her friend were there to see her leave in a distressed state, prompting the police to be informed of the incident.

“I wasn’t hysterical crying,” she testified. “I just said: ‘We need to go. We need to get out of here’... I didn’t want any police. I didn’t want anything to do with them. I just wanted to go home.”

Her friend gave emotional evidence of the night in question, describing how she recalled looking for her friend at the house before seeing her emerge from a room “visibly upset”, “shaken, scared, with tears in her eyes”.

Jason Lee has pleaded not guilty to the charges of rape and assualt in the third degree and has opted against a jury trial.

The trial continues today.