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A woman has told a court that she did not flee from her home following an alleged rape attack in fear her “son might not have a mother right now”.
The alleged victim was giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow in the trial against James Clacher.
Clacher, 57, has been accused of the violent rape of two women – one in Troon, South Ayrshire, in 2019 and another in Glasgow in September 2020.
He has denied any wrongdoing and has lodged a special defence, claiming any sex was consensual.
Giving evidence yesterday, the alleged 2019 victim told jurors of how she was allegedly raped in her own home within 15 minutes of meeting Clacher for the first time.
The woman said moments after telling her Tinder date to “make himself comfortable” while she finished getting ready for their night out, she was reportedly pushed against a wall and brutally assaulted.
She then claimed she was further abused after being led upstairs while in a state of “shock”.
During cross-examination on Thursday, defence advocate Gail Gianni asked the woman why she did not flee for safety after she testified she had gone to the bathroom and Clacher was still in her bedroom.
The woman responded: “If I tried to run, my son might not have a mother right now.”
Ms Gianni highlighted a number of discrepancies in the woman’s police statement and court testimony.
In response to allegations she made in court, which are too graphic to print, but were not recorded in her police report, she claimed she was too “embarrassed” to tell the force at the time, as the details were “humiliating and degrading”.
She said: “I didn’t want to talk about it at that point.”
Ms Gianni also noted how the woman told police she “wasn’t forced up the stairs”, which differed from her court evidence.
The woman explained that she later believed she had been “coerced”.
It was put to the woman that Mr Clacher’s stance is that the pair kissed on and off for a “period of about 10 minutes” before she offered to show him around the house.
It is claimed by the defence that the pair were making out in her bedroom, before the woman allegedly asked Clacher to stop so as she could “get some poppers to make the experience more pleasurable”.
After the woman reportedly returned from the bathroom, the defence alleges the sex continued.
The woman denied that anything consensual had taken place, refuting claims of taking recreational drugs.
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The court heard that the woman and Clacher met multiple times following the alleged attack, which included going out for the complainer’s birthday and the accused also being invited back into her home.
They also met for lunch about a week after the reported incident, with the accuser saying: “It is my belief he was trying to prevent me from going to the police or taking it any further.”
The complainer said she agreed to meet as she “wanted closure” but claimed she could not remember what was discussed during their lunch.
When asked by advocate depute Catriona MacLeod why she continued to communicate with Clacher and have him in her house given her allegation, she claimed she felt “sorry for him” as his brother had reportedly died.
The woman said: “I believe I was being groomed over a long time afterwards.”
She added that it was her way of “coping” with the alleged assault and subsequent “trauma” and was “not an expert” on why she behaved like that.
The woman stressed she did not intend to report the alleged attack to police at the time, adding: “I just wanted things to feel normal.”
Jurors were also told of how the woman later posted messages on Facebook and contacted Clacher’s family and friends, accusing him of being a “rapist” and them of “supporting a rapist”.
She told the court she took action as she was “frightened he would hurt someone else” due to the nature of his work as a dietician and fitness instructor.
When asked by Ms MacLeod if she was lying and making the allegation up, the woman replied: “Absolutely not.”
Later on Thursday afternoon, jurors watched video testimony from the second alleged victim.
That alleged rape attack is said to have taken place at a property in Glasgow on 4 September 2020.
In her evidence, the woman said she matched with Clacher on dating app Bumble and agreed to go out to dinner with him.
Clacher’s dating profile said he was 39, but he reportedly told the woman he was 41. At the time he would have been 52.
As the woman was running late, she invited him into her flat while she finished her hair and make-up.
She said the pair “kissed and hugged” around “three, four times” before they left for Nando’s at the city’s Springfield Quay.
Their evening involved getting takeaway from the restaurant before Clacher drove them to Irvine Beach in Ayrshire, where they ate in the car, talked, and took a short walk on the beach.
Clacher was said to have suggested the pair go back to his house, where he would make cocktails and the woman could spend the night.
She said she refused the offer and instead suggested they go back to hers to watch a movie.
While in her living room, the pair began kissing and ended up partially undressed.
The woman said she was “okay with” the kissing and hugging, but claimed she attempted to “deter him” from having sex but was raped before being held down and raped again.
Following the alleged incident, the woman said she asked Clacher to leave her home, but he sat in her living room for about 20 minutes.
She said: “I was uncomfortable.”
On his way out, the woman said Clacher apologised.
She stated: “He said he was sorry and that he wanted to see me again. I said no.”
The next day, the woman said she messaged Clacher to tell him she was reporting him to the police.
She said: “I told him that what he did was wrong.”
Clacher was said to have phoned the woman, but she ignored his calls.
During cross-examination, the woman was questioned on multiple discrepancies between what she testified in court and what she had in her police statement in regards to the alleged events.
The accuser claimed there had been a number of years between the two, so what she wrote in her police statement shortly after the attack “must be true”.
The trial, before judge Lord Cubie, will continue on Friday.
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