2:03pm Tuesday 2nd February 2010
By Ash Bolton
A FORMER yacht club committee member is alleged to have raped a teenager following an annual dinner party at a Hampshire yacht club.
Michael Mayhew, 48, is said to have raped the 17-year-old at his home following a meal at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club on August 15, 2008.
Winchester Crown Court heard how Mayhew, a sailing instructor, had invited the teenager and two of her friends to his home for drinks at around 11.30pm.
Prosecutor Mark Ruffell said: “There came a point when the girl wanted to go to the toilet.
As she went to go to the lavatory, she said the defendant tried to kiss her.
“She went straight to the toilet and when she went to close the door he came in and locked it behind him.
“He kissed and touched her and forced her against a basin.
She said she didn’t want this to happen and said no. He then pushed her against a wall, lifted her skirt and raped her.”
The pair were disturbed by a knock on the toilet door. The teenager pushed Mayhew away before leaving the house and phoning her boyfriend to come and pick her up. She later told police that she had been raped and Mayhew was arrested.
Tests later revealed the girl’s DNA was found on his genitals.
The court heard that the DNA got there when he used the toilet.
Mayhew claims the teenager had pestered him for sex and he refused before she left “in a strop”.
Giving evidence, the alleged victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied she had asked him for sex.
Speaking behind a curtain, she said: “He was running his hands all over me. I was panicking and didn’t know what to do, as I had had a few drinks.
“He said not to panic and something about making it easier. He pushed me up against the sink and raped me.”
Defence barrister Robert Grey, cross-examining the teenager, accused her of removing her underwear earlier in the evening.
He said: “You grabbed the fingers on his right hand and tried to put them down towards your private parts. You were saying to him ‘Come on, just touch me, you know you want to’.”
Mr Grey also accused her of dancing in a provocative way with Mayhew earlier in the evening and telling others that she was not wearing any knickers.
The court also heard that the teenager refused a medical examination following the alleged rape, which it was said would have backed up the police investigation.
Mayhew, of Princess Royal Close, Lymington, denies a charge of rape.
Proceeding
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