A woman accusing a former teacher and hotel manager of rape said they had agreed to meet for coffee before he took her to a hotel room and raped her, a court has heard.
Daniel Gravell is alleged to have indecently assaulted and raped a woman at his home in 2001, to have raped a second woman in a “secluded spot” near a rugby clubhouse in 2005, and to have raped a third woman in a hotel bedroom in 2021.
The defendant is on trial at Swansea Crown Court.
Gravell, 44, of Porth-y-Plas, Johnstown, Carmarthen, denies all the allegations saying the 2001 incident “simply never happened” and that the 2005 and 2021 incidents were consensual sexual acts. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here
On Friday, jurors heard evidence from the complainant in the 2021 allegation. The court was shown a video police interview in which the complainant described how she met Garvell on Facebook. She told officers that she and the defendant agreed to meet for coffee, but upon being picked up by Gravell in a Range Rover-type vehicle he took her to the Baltic Hotel.
It was here that the alleged victim said Gravell took her to one of the hotel rooms and locked the door before raping her.
Jurors also heard evidence from the complainant in the 2005 allegation who told the court that Gravell approached her outside the Rose and Crown pub in Carmarthen, pulled her down an alleyway that led to the Carmarthen Athletic RFC clubhouse, pinned her against a wall, and raped her.
In her cross-examination by Gravell’s defence barrister, the complainant denied being engaged in a “flirty” conversation with the defendant before the alleged incident and denied that what happened on the night in question had been consensual.
She then told the court that Gravell was “dragging and pulling me” and that as they passed a window she tried to tap on it, adding that doing this was “my last chance”.
On Tuesday the jury heard evidence from the complainant of the 2001 allegation. The court heard her say she met the defendant in Carmarthen town centre before going back to his home in nearby Johnstown.
The complainant said Gravell and her were kissing consensually on his bed when she told him she was on her period. Jurors heard that at that point “things changed” and Gravell got on top of her before “ripping out” her tampon and raping her.
On Wednesday the jury heard about the 2005 allegation. Similarly to Friday, jurors were shown a video police interview in which the complainant said Gravell approached her outside the Rose and Crown pub on Carmarthen’s Lammas Street claiming to know her father.
The woman said that as she was being taken towards the clubhouse she was scared and thought she was “either going to be beaten up or raped”.
The court heard her say that at the end of the alley the defendant used his bodyweight to pin her against a wall, and then raped her. After the alleged rape she said she felt “numb” and “dirty”, and she said she would “never forget his face”.
The trial, before judge Paul Thomas KC, continues.
You can follow today’s evidence on our court blog below:
