BURY ST EDMUNDS MAN DARREN MATTHEWS ACCUSED OF RAPE
A Suffolk woman thought she was going to die when a man she was having sex with put his hands round her neck and started applying pressure, it has been alleged.The woman, who had been out for a “bottomless brunch” with a friend, met 28-year-old Darren Matthews as she walked home to her bedsit in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of the morning, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
She described Matthews as being “rather weird” and claiming that he was her boyfriend and that he loved her, said prosecutor Richard Potts.
Matthews had insisted on accompanying her home, and back at her bedsit they had kissed on a sofa before engaging in consensual sex.
However, he then allegedly put his hands around her neck and started applying pressure.
"She told him to stop and to get off but he didn’t.
She tried to pull his hands away but failed, and she recalls him saying ‘just take it’," said Mr Potts.
"She thought she was going to die.
She felt her face turning purple and her chest was hurting, and when she tried to get his hands off he pushed harder," Mr Potts added.
The alleged incident ended after Matthews fell off the sofa and he left, leaving his shoes and shirt behind.
The victim shut the door, but Matthews returned and kicked it open before leaving when he realized she was calling the police.
Matthews, of Bishops Court, Lossiemouth, denies raping the woman and an offence of intentional strangulation.
The offences are alleged to have been committed in August 2023.
He has pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to criminal damage regarding the victim’s front door.
Matthews was arrested shortly after the incident and made a statement to police claiming the sex was consensual.
The trial is ongoing.
