Court hears of texts from phone of rape accused

Deleted text messages recovered from Jason Lee’s phone have revealed his anxiety after he allegedly raped a young Irish woman in the Hamptons in 2013.

The former Goldman Sachs executive denies attacking the J1 student at the holiday home he was renting in East Hampton on August 20, 2013.

Last week, the alleged victim testified that Mr Lee barged in on her in a downstairs bathroom and that she had not consented to have sex.

Police were called to the house soon after the alleged incident, initially to investigate the possibility that someone had stolen a car belonging to Mr Lee’s friend, Rene Duncan.

Mr Lee and Mr Duncan had earlier invited four Irish friends, including the victim and her brother, back for drinks at the house having met them at a nightclub.

Detective Inspector Edward Solomon of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office told Judge Barbara Kahn on the seventh day of the trial that a number of deleted text messages and data were recovered from Mr Lee’s phone in late 2013.

About 30 minutes prior to the first police officer arriving at the scene, a text was sent from Mr Lee’s phone to Mr Duncan’s phone at 5.51am that read: “We gotta get these guys out of here.” Another text at 5.59am read: “Get these guys out of here PLEASE. Call me on the landline when you’re done.”

It was also revealed that Mr Lee was trying to order transport via Uber around the time he went missing for more than two hours. When a taxi did eventually arrive, it was sent away by police.

A text sent later that morning to Mr Duncan’s phone read: “Cops still here. Not sure if they’re investigating stolen car or me.”

Still later, a woman named Alisha received a text from Mr Lee’s phone reading: “I don’t know. Please don’t come out today. I’m healthy but in trouble.”

Earlier yesterday, Capt Christopher Anderson of East Hampton Police Department told the court he brought Mr Lee and Mr Duncan in for questioning before subsequently arresting Mr Lee and charging him with rape in the third degree.

He described Mr Lee’s demeanour as being “short”, that he was “curt in his answers” and avoided eye contact. “He questioned whether police presence was necessary,” the captain said.

Capt Anderson testified that at the station later, he interrupted the pair “whispering in low tones” before they retracted from one another upon seeing him.

The first of the defence witnesses took the stand yesterday afternoon. Lome Thanning, a consultant on pathology and crime scene investigations, testified that bruising photographed on the alleged victim most likely did not happen less than a week before the incident.

Under cross-examination, Dr Thanning agreed that basing opinion on a photograph was less reliable than seeing the bruises in person.

The trial continues.