Irish Under-21 player raped me, court told

A LAW student told a court yesterday how she was raped by a Republic of Ireland Under-21 international footballer after a night out at a West End club in London.

Her voice faltering, the 22-year-old claimed she had “absolutely no energy to resist in any way” when Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack, on loan to Reading, allegedly attacked her in his flat.

The woman was ill and trying to sleep when she was set upon by the player and sexually assaulted by his friend, Allan Smillie, in the early hours of September 1 last year, the jury heard.

“I saw Graham Stack in the doorway of the room completely naked,” Croydon Crown Court was told.

“He was smiling ... I was really confused.

“He got on top of me. I think I remember his trying to kiss around my neck and face area. He started to have sex with me. He raped me.”

From behind screens she told the packed courtroom: “It was really, really sudden.

“There was absolutely no warning whatsoever. It was completely out of the blue.

“I was aware of what was happening, I just felt completely unable to do anything.

“I was almost passed out but saying ‘get off me, get off’ and ‘I just want to sleep’. They just totally ignored me.”

She said Stack stopped attacking her when her friend called out his name.

Stack, of Ladygate Lane, Ruislip, west London, denied one count of rape and one count of sexual assault at an earlier hearing. Smillie, an operations manager from Boundaries Road, Feltham, west London, pleaded not guilty earlier to two counts of sexual assault.

The alleged victim met the 23-year-old men just hours before at Trap nightclub on Wardour Street, Central London, through a school friend and shared a kiss with Smillie, the court was told.

She drank half a glass of wine, two single and one double vodka and cranberries, and at the end of the evening felt unwell.

The hearing was adjourned until today.