Woman 'posted fake rape me invitation online to get men to attack colleague after row'
A woman tried to get a female colleague raped at home by men she tricked in online sex chatrooms, a court heard yesterday.
Joanne Berry, 30, is alleged to have posed on websites including ‘Cougar Shag’ as a woman who liked “role play” sex and wanted “to create some sort of rape scenario”.
The office administrator from Grove Park, south east London, allegedly then invited the men to go to her home and carry out a fantasy rape.
However, she gave the name, telephone number and address of a colleague who she had fallen out with and who cannot be named for legal reasons, the jury was told.
The court heard that on one occasion a man, Dean Hicks, knocked at the front door of the alleged intended victim then burst in to “rape” her as instructed by Berry.
Prosecutor Andrew Espley told Maidstone Crown Court in Kent: “Joanne Berry arranged for men to go round to [the colleague’s] house and rape her.
“How did she do it? She went on various sex chat websites.
“She pretended she was [the colleague], she gave [the colleague’s] address, she used her name, she gave the registration of her car which was going to be parked outside, pretended to be her.
“She then told the men to come round and engage in a fantasy rape game with her, basically to rape her.”
The court heard that the incidents came after Berry and her colleague fell out in March 2012 over the accused’s own claims that she had been raped by two men.
The prosecution described the claim as ‘made up’.
The court heard that Berry's colleague tried to support Berry but later asked her not to contact her anymore and accused her of being an ‘attention seeker’ when she refused to co-operate with the police.
Mr Espley said Berry's colleague later received a series of texts from Berry saying that “she had thought she could trust her and now she had lost her job and lost her as a friend”.
The court head that a few days later the colleague's sister, who lived with the colleague, was at home alone when she heard banging on a door, but did not answer, believing it was next door.
The following day, on April 28, 2012, the sister answered the door after hearing another loud knock to a man who asked if her name was [the victim’s name].
Mr Espley said: “She said she wasn’t and asked who he was. He said that he had been speaking to [the victim] all day online.
“[The sister] thought that he might have the wrong address and the man said: ‘This is a f***ing wind up’.” He then left.”
The jury was told that when the sister returned home later that day she found two messages on her answer phone, one saying: “I am getting bored of this now, you are playing games” and a second saying: “Sorry about that I think I have the wrong number”.
The court heard that the following morning the colleague was at home when she heard a banging on the front door and answered it to find a man she did not know standing there.
Mr Espley said: “He asked if she was [her name] and when she said she was he tried to push his way in.
“She immediately called up to her sister and at this point the man stopped and said: ‘Is this a wind up?’
“He then began to say he had been chatting to someone online who he believed was her and that she wanted him to go to the house and carry out a fantasy rape by knocking on the front door and then trying to push his way in.
“The man said that once he had carried out the fantasy rape he was to ask for information about Joanne Berry.”
The court heard that Mr Hicks told the victim she should phone the police and he waited in his car.
Berry was eventually arrested at home on May 27, 2012.
The court heard Berry’s laptop was seized and a large number of “chat line posts” were found.
Mr Espley said: “In short, a number of men took the invitation from Joanne Berry to rape [the victim] seriously.”
Berry is charged with putting her colleague in fear of violence, committing an offence of assault with the intent of committing a relevant sexual offence, the common assault of the victim and attempting to cause the victim to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
The prosecution claims Berry committed the offences by procurement.
Berry denies all four charges.
The trial continues.
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