A City banker accused of a string of rapes today told a court he had consensual sex with one of his alleged victims after she made eye contact while 'suggestively eating chicken'.
Brian Witty, 41, of Teddington, Middlesex, denies raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth over a 16-year period between 1995 and 2011.
Answering the allegations, the former Captain in the Parachute Regiment told Kingston Crown Court he 'must have a poor judge of character' for not spotting ladies who have a 'screw loose'.
In one instance, Witty told the court how he had met one of the women by chance in City bar Abacus after spotting her eating chicken in a way that implied a sexual act.
Having met a female friend for a business meeting on October 4th, 2008, they were sitting by the bar when they spotted the woman, named only as Miss C, arrive and sit alone nearby.
Witty said: 'We noticed her because she was on her own. We thought perhaps somebody was coming to meet her because she ordered some food.'
Mark Milliken-Smith, defending, asked him: 'Had you made contact with her by this time?'
The defendant replied: 'No, apart from eye contact. We caught each other’s eyes.'
Witty said his friend then made a comment about the way the way Miss C was eating her chicken. Looking over, he saw she was eating it in a way that replicated a sexual act, he told the court.
'I saw her suggestively eating chicken ... I was looking at her and she smiled,' Witty said.
After a trip to the toilet, he came back to find his friend talking to Miss C and he then bought the group some cocktails
He said they got on well and his friend thought she was flirting with him, and when the group left around 10.30pm he and Miss C briefly kissed on the lips outside Bank tube station, before he handed her his business card.
Due to problems with the tube, Witty said he decided to walk to nearby Monument station instead, and encountered her again on his way.
As it was late, she offered him her spare room, he told the court, but he declined as he said he had an early start.
After exchanging a few texts, the pair met up again three days later for some drinks in Richmond, south-west London, before going back to his flat where they began kissing and 'fondling' on the sofa.
He told the court she performed a sex act on him before he went to his bedroom to get a condom, and when he returned she told him 'f*** me', leading to 'vigorous' sex.
Asked by Mr Milliken Smith QC,'Did she ever say anything to give any indication she was unhappy', he replied: 'Not at all.”
Witty said he then ordered some Chinese takeaway for them both, and they continued to talk on the sofa, but the mood turned sour in a conversation about football.
After she had remarked that Portsmouth football club were better than Manchester United, and he had jokingly told her to 'f*** off', she took offence and asked him to call her a cab.
He said, 'She suddenly switched', later adding, 'I didn’t understand why she was upset'. Witty also denied flinging a packet of fried rice over the woman after the alleged rape.
He told the court that when the Chinese food arrived she went out into the hallway to make a phone call, and he told her to take some of the special fried rice away with her.
Asked by Mr Milliken-Smith, 'Did you throw it at her?' he replied, 'Absolutely not.'
Thinking she had left, Witty went to bed but a few hours later police arrived and he was taken into custody
for questioning.
Witty also described meeting another alleged victim, named only as Miss D, through dating website datingdirect.com, on August 2nd last year, and arranging to meet her for a drink.
He denied encouraging her not to drive and have a drink instead was a 'master plan to get her drunk and rape her.'
They met in The Anglers pub in Teddington, Middlesex, and he bought the first two rounds of drinks - two pints of Peroni for him and two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc for her - before they went to sit outside by the river.
He told the court they discussed his young son and the conversation was 'flirtatious', and when she went to buy the third round she came back with two glasses of wine and two pints at the same time.
He said he asked her: 'Are you trying to get me drunk?' Miss D, he claimed, replied: 'No, because you will not be able to perform later'
At a later point, he said told her she had nice breasts and claimed she pulled down her string vest in response, revealing her bra to him.
'It was enough for me to see', he said, adding: 'It was a quick flash of her breasts in the bar.'
He said they walked back hand in hand to his flat for some more drinks, and kissed and 'fondled' on the balcony before moving back to the sofa inside and undressing each other.
He said after an initial unsuccessful attempt to have sex in which she said she could feel 'absolutely nothing', she performed a sex act on him.
They then had consensual sex on the sofa during which she was 'being vocal', he claimed.
'It was dirty talk,' he added.
Afterwards, Witty told the court, she asked if he wanted her to stay, but as his son was coming to stay the next day and it was late, he declined and called her a cab.
He was arrested a few hours later when he was still in bed.
In cross-examination Witty told the court he 'must have a poor judge of character' for not spotting ladies who have a 'screw loose'.
He said he had not thought to change his dating habits after being first accused of rape and sexual assault between 1995 and last year, claiming he had 'not done anything wrong'.
Prosecutor Edmund Gritt put to him: 'Over these years it appears there was a mounting sense of shock on your part [following each arrest] ...
'Yet you have not in any way modified or changed your behaviour in terms of going out with women you don't know, having a few drinks with them and getting straight down to sex in a matter of hours.'
Asked if the accusations had made him mistrustful of women, Witty said: 'I had not done anything wrong so it didn't unnerve me'.
But he later added: 'I must have a poor judge of character because I am standing here fighting for my life.'
Asked about the woman, Miss B, who he is accused of sexually assaulting in an alleyway off a pub in 2006,
he said: 'I would say I misjudged her. I think she had a screw loose.'
The court heard he also referred to another of his alleged victims, Miss A, in his police interview in the same manner.
He told officers she 'must have had a bloody screw loose' and was jealous he had a girlfriend.
He is accused of raping Miss A in 1995 in his flat in Kensington, west London, when he is alleged to have jumped out of bed and said: 'I don't believe this. I'm a good-looking bloke.'
Mr Gritt asked if things were becoming 'urgent', with the time between meeting women and having sex diminishing, and whether he was 'emboldened' by the fact that the CPS had not yet charged.
Witty denied both suggestions.
Mr Gritt asked: 'Is it just compulsive on your part? At the end of the evening you have to have sex one way or another?' Witty replied: 'I have not done anything wrong. No.'
The trial continues.
Source: The Daily Mail Online
Brian Witty, 41, of Teddington, Middlesex, denies raping three women and sexually assaulting a fourth over a 16-year period between 1995 and 2011.
Answering the allegations, the former Captain in the Parachute Regiment told Kingston Crown Court he 'must have a poor judge of character' for not spotting ladies who have a 'screw loose'.
In one instance, Witty told the court how he had met one of the women by chance in City bar Abacus after spotting her eating chicken in a way that implied a sexual act.
Having met a female friend for a business meeting on October 4th, 2008, they were sitting by the bar when they spotted the woman, named only as Miss C, arrive and sit alone nearby.
Witty said: 'We noticed her because she was on her own. We thought perhaps somebody was coming to meet her because she ordered some food.'
Mark Milliken-Smith, defending, asked him: 'Had you made contact with her by this time?'
The defendant replied: 'No, apart from eye contact. We caught each other’s eyes.'
Witty said his friend then made a comment about the way the way Miss C was eating her chicken. Looking over, he saw she was eating it in a way that replicated a sexual act, he told the court.
'I saw her suggestively eating chicken ... I was looking at her and she smiled,' Witty said.
After a trip to the toilet, he came back to find his friend talking to Miss C and he then bought the group some cocktails
He said they got on well and his friend thought she was flirting with him, and when the group left around 10.30pm he and Miss C briefly kissed on the lips outside Bank tube station, before he handed her his business card.
Due to problems with the tube, Witty said he decided to walk to nearby Monument station instead, and encountered her again on his way.
As it was late, she offered him her spare room, he told the court, but he declined as he said he had an early start.
After exchanging a few texts, the pair met up again three days later for some drinks in Richmond, south-west London, before going back to his flat where they began kissing and 'fondling' on the sofa.
He told the court she performed a sex act on him before he went to his bedroom to get a condom, and when he returned she told him 'f*** me', leading to 'vigorous' sex.
Asked by Mr Milliken Smith QC,'Did she ever say anything to give any indication she was unhappy', he replied: 'Not at all.”
Witty said he then ordered some Chinese takeaway for them both, and they continued to talk on the sofa, but the mood turned sour in a conversation about football.
After she had remarked that Portsmouth football club were better than Manchester United, and he had jokingly told her to 'f*** off', she took offence and asked him to call her a cab.
He said, 'She suddenly switched', later adding, 'I didn’t understand why she was upset'. Witty also denied flinging a packet of fried rice over the woman after the alleged rape.
He told the court that when the Chinese food arrived she went out into the hallway to make a phone call, and he told her to take some of the special fried rice away with her.
Asked by Mr Milliken-Smith, 'Did you throw it at her?' he replied, 'Absolutely not.'
Thinking she had left, Witty went to bed but a few hours later police arrived and he was taken into custody
for questioning.
Witty also described meeting another alleged victim, named only as Miss D, through dating website datingdirect.com, on August 2nd last year, and arranging to meet her for a drink.
He denied encouraging her not to drive and have a drink instead was a 'master plan to get her drunk and rape her.'
They met in The Anglers pub in Teddington, Middlesex, and he bought the first two rounds of drinks - two pints of Peroni for him and two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc for her - before they went to sit outside by the river.
He told the court they discussed his young son and the conversation was 'flirtatious', and when she went to buy the third round she came back with two glasses of wine and two pints at the same time.
He said he asked her: 'Are you trying to get me drunk?' Miss D, he claimed, replied: 'No, because you will not be able to perform later'
At a later point, he said told her she had nice breasts and claimed she pulled down her string vest in response, revealing her bra to him.
'It was enough for me to see', he said, adding: 'It was a quick flash of her breasts in the bar.'
He said they walked back hand in hand to his flat for some more drinks, and kissed and 'fondled' on the balcony before moving back to the sofa inside and undressing each other.
He said after an initial unsuccessful attempt to have sex in which she said she could feel 'absolutely nothing', she performed a sex act on him.
They then had consensual sex on the sofa during which she was 'being vocal', he claimed.
'It was dirty talk,' he added.
Afterwards, Witty told the court, she asked if he wanted her to stay, but as his son was coming to stay the next day and it was late, he declined and called her a cab.
He was arrested a few hours later when he was still in bed.
In cross-examination Witty told the court he 'must have a poor judge of character' for not spotting ladies who have a 'screw loose'.
He said he had not thought to change his dating habits after being first accused of rape and sexual assault between 1995 and last year, claiming he had 'not done anything wrong'.
Prosecutor Edmund Gritt put to him: 'Over these years it appears there was a mounting sense of shock on your part [following each arrest] ...
'Yet you have not in any way modified or changed your behaviour in terms of going out with women you don't know, having a few drinks with them and getting straight down to sex in a matter of hours.'
Asked if the accusations had made him mistrustful of women, Witty said: 'I had not done anything wrong so it didn't unnerve me'.
But he later added: 'I must have a poor judge of character because I am standing here fighting for my life.'
Asked about the woman, Miss B, who he is accused of sexually assaulting in an alleyway off a pub in 2006,
he said: 'I would say I misjudged her. I think she had a screw loose.'
The court heard he also referred to another of his alleged victims, Miss A, in his police interview in the same manner.
He told officers she 'must have had a bloody screw loose' and was jealous he had a girlfriend.
He is accused of raping Miss A in 1995 in his flat in Kensington, west London, when he is alleged to have jumped out of bed and said: 'I don't believe this. I'm a good-looking bloke.'
Mr Gritt asked if things were becoming 'urgent', with the time between meeting women and having sex diminishing, and whether he was 'emboldened' by the fact that the CPS had not yet charged.
Witty denied both suggestions.
Mr Gritt asked: 'Is it just compulsive on your part? At the end of the evening you have to have sex one way or another?' Witty replied: 'I have not done anything wrong. No.'
The trial continues.
Source: The Daily Mail Online
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