A man has gone on trial accused of abducting a woman in a north-east town and raping her twice.
Saulius Bauza, 40, is alleged to have assaulted and raped the woman to her injury at a guesthouse in Huntly twice.
He is also accused of abducting her by chasing her in the street outside, picking her up, and forcing her to go back to the property with him.
The incidents are alleged to have happened on April 7 2019.
Bauza, of Broad Road, Arvagh, Ireland, denies the charges against him, and lodged a special defence of consent in relation to the rape allegations.
On the first day of the trial at the High Court in Aberdeen, before a remote jury of eight men and seven women, evidence was given by Detective Constable Kevin Petrie, who was involved in investigating the case.
Under questioning from advocate depute Ann Gray, Dc Petrie explained he had attended at the guesthouse on the morning of April 7 2019 and had spoken to Bauza.
The officer said: “He made voluntary remarks about a woman in his room, I think he mentioned the word ‘crazy’, gestured with his hands to and from the room and told me she’d been running in and out of the property through the night.”
‘Seemed surprised and shocked’
Asked what else Bouza had said, Dc Petrie explained that when Bouza had heard the word “rape” mentioned he “seemed surprised and shocked”.
The court was shown photographs from a room at the guesthouse, with what Dc Petrie described as “apparent blood-staining” on the bed and a towel.
A compilation of CCTV footage tracking the movements of Bouza and the woman on the night he is accused of abducting and raping her was also shown to the court.
One piece of footage showed Bouza and the woman dancing together in a nightclub around 12.15am.
Asked whether he formed a view about the demeanor of Bouza and the woman in the footage, the witness said: “From the movements of the woman in particular, I formed the opinion she was under the influence of alcohol and they both seemed to be quite comfortable in each other’s company at that point.”
Bouza and the woman are then seen to walk to the guesthouse together, followed by various pieces of footage through the early hours of the morning of the woman walking away from and towards the guesthouse.
Dc Petrie was then asked to describe what he saw in another piece of footage from the street outside the guesthouse at 3.27am.
‘Running away from the guesthouse wrapped in a towel’
He said: “This is the woman running away from the guesthouse wrapped in a towel, chased by Saulius Bouza.
“The woman stumbles and falls. I believe she suffered a gash to her chin.
“She’s picked up and ushered back towards the guesthouse by Saulius Bouza.”
More footage of the same road was shown from 4.21am.
Dc Petrie said: “The woman is walking away. She seems to be walking with purpose.
“She turns around to point back in the direction of the guesthouse.
“Saulius Bouza is walking slowly behind.
“He’s now scanning the road with what looks like a mobile telephone torch.
“He seems to be inspecting the area where the woman fell.”
The woman was seen to continue walking away while Bouza eventually walked off back towards the guesthouse.
Cross-examination
Cross-examining the witness, defence counsel Leigh Lawrie asked if it would be fair to say Bouza’s initial description of the woman “going in and out” of the guesthouse had been “borne out” by the CCTV.
He replied: “It would certainly appear that way.”
Ms Lawrie asked, if the court was to hear evidence that the initial report police were investigating “concerned the complainer being approached by a group of males unknown to her as she was walking home”, if the witness seen her being approached by a group in any of the footage.
Dc Petrie replied: “No.”
The trial, before Judge Graham Buchanan, continues.
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