Woman denies consensual encounter in Top Boy actor rape trial
The woman who claimed she was raped by Top Boy actor Michael Ward denied claims that this encounter was consensual.
Ward is accused of raping the woman in a car after meeting her at a nightclub in east London in January 2023.
He denies two charges of rape and three sexual assaults against the 28-year-old woman and said all sexual activity between the couple was consensual.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, broke down as she told the jury she “didn’t understand the situation she was in” and if she did she “would never have gotten in that car with him.”
Jurors had previously been told Ward knew she had appeared in films and television and was flattered when he asked for her Snapchat account.
Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC, defending Ward, told the woman “what happened in the back of the car was consensual” and she replied: “No, Michael raped me.”
The alleged victim became emotional as she recalled that she “didn’t use the word no” and “completely shut down” during the encounter on Jan. 2, 2023.
He said he repeatedly told the Blue Story actor that he needed to leave “many times.”
The court heard the woman appeared upset when she got into a friend’s car to drive home after the alleged attack.
The friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court the woman was “behaving badly” and “continued to cry” when asked what had happened.
“Because I knew there was something wrong with him. ‘Are you okay?'” his friend said. “I said,” he said. “I asked him if he raped her. I realized how violent it was and I said, ‘Did he attack you?’ I asked.
The court also heard the alleged victim ordered an STI kit on the way home and ticked a box asking if she had been sexually assaulted.
Ward told police in a prepared statement following his arrest on Jan. 18, 2023: “I deny the allegation of rape. I want to put it on record that we engaged in consensual foreplay and consensual sex.”
Ward was awarded the Bafta Rising Star Award in 2020 and has subsequently been nominated twice for roles in the BBC’s Small Axe and 2022’s Empire of Light.
