British rapper Yung Filly on trial for allegedly raping and assaulting a young woman during his Australian tour
Warning: Upsetting details
British rapper Yung Filly arrived before Perth courts this week in a black Mercedes van with tinted windows to face serious allegations from his alleged 2024 Australian tour.
It’s a far cry from the grand entrances he once made in front of adoring fans at fancy bars and events around the world before his arrest.
The YouTube sensation, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos (30) and has more than 2.4 million followers on social media, has been in Western Australia on bail since October 2024 and has not been able to leave except for a brief visit to England last Christmas.
He was accused of raping, assaulting and strangling a 20-year-old woman on the night of September 27, 2024, hours after a performance at Hillary’s Boat Harbor’s Bar1 nightclub.
The incident allegedly occurred in a room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Perth, about a 30-minute drive from the venue where he had performed hours earlier.
She had to get a tetanus shot after being bitten, slapped, raped and strangled by Mr Barrientos, the woman told the Perth District Court, where the rapper is on trial for sexual assault.
Police extradited the star mid-tour more than 3600km from Western Australia, just days after a 20-year-old woman filed a report alleging she was assaulted by the rapper.
He pleaded not guilty to six charges of sexual assault, three of assault and one of strangulation.
About a dozen family members were present in court to support the 30-year-old as he battles the allegations against him.
Fans of the YouTube star also showed their support off the field, hoping to catch the musician getting into his black Mercedes van; They were mostly dressed in school uniforms.
She meets her female idol Yung Filly at Bar1 nightclub
The young woman, who cannot be named, detailed the horrific allegations about her “idol” after meeting the star at a seaside nightclub in Perth’s north nearly two years ago.
He testified in a video room for two days at trial; She explained how excited she was to see the celebrity’s performance that she enjoyed and wore her lucky white outfit, hoping to meet her in the VIP area.
Malcolm Pages, owner of Bar1 Nightclub, told the court the woman harassed him several times throughout the night to get into the VIP area.
“It was getting to be too much,” he said.
The woman filmed several videos of herself and her friend at the bar where she met Filly, which were played in court.
She was heard saying: “I’m going to get married and have his child,” “Yung Filly touched me in a good way,” and “I love Filly.”
He later admitted to Filly’s defense lawyer David Edwardson that he dreamed of marrying his idol and having a relationship with her like Victoria and David Beckham.
The court was told the young woman had been pestering bar management to get into the VIP area so she could meet her celebrity crush Yung Filly before the alleged attack.
Yung said Filly looked clean, put together and had a smile that showed off his vampire-looking teeth.
She claimed he put his hands down his pants in the VIP area and told her: “You’re coming home with me tonight”, but she took his hands out and told him: “I’m not like that.”
She claimed he touched her breast and said “you can’t do that”, to which she replied “it’s really showing your age”.
Later in the evening, after learning that Yung Filly was leaving the bar, the woman went out and headed towards the star’s minibus, in which he boarded with his entourage of about seven men.
During her statement, she said that there was another group of women in the VIP area of the club who jumped into a white minibus at the same time, and that she thought they were all going to an after-party at Star.
The woman claimed that inside the van, Filly’s bodyguard asked her if she wanted him to take the woman’s phone, but then refused to give it back.
Intercontinental Hotel
When they arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel, the woman realized there was no after-party and Filly’s entourage walked off in different directions, but he was happy to go back to his hotel room with her.
She told the court that she and the rapper kissed and began consensual sexual activity, but Filly became rougher, more aggressive and began biting her.
The situation got worse, he told the court.
“He wasn’t talking much, he was more aggressive, this time he started hurting me, he started biting me, his bites were not nice,” he said.
“He bit me again but this time it was harder, I was trying to move my body and squirm, he bit my right cheek, so I was hitting his back trying to hit him,” he said.
“He told me to stop saying ‘no’”
“My skin broke out, and then I had to get a tetanus shot at the hospital.”
The woman also claimed that he strangled her and put his hand around her neck and chest.
“It was quite difficult, it was difficult to breathe, it was preventing me from breathing,” he told the court.
The woman claimed the rapper pinned her to the ground so she couldn’t move and told her to call him names.
“After he steadied my hands, he hit me a second time, I thought about not speaking or saying anything, I was scared,” she said.
“He stopped short of hitting me, telling me to call myself names I didn’t call myself, and they were along the lines of ‘Fat pig’ and ‘Filly’s dirty whore’.
“After he hit me I started crying, not loud but I was crying, I didn’t move or talk, I just laid there.”
Days have passed since the rape allegation
The woman took an Uber home after the ordeal and claimed her face was badly injured, sore and needed an ice pack to relieve the pain and swelling.
He took several photographs of his alleged injuries, which were shown in court; The forensic dentist confirmed that he had injuries to his face and neck consistent with human bite marks.
“I knew what happened to me, that I had been sexually assaulted or raped, but I didn’t know what to do, where to go or what I wanted to do,” she told the court.
“I thought maybe he would regret it if he saw what he did to me, so I messaged him on Instagram: ‘Hi no kidding I think I left my car keys with you last night haha let me know if you find it.'”
His aunt took him to the police when she saw his injuries in the days after the alleged attack.
“He needed help, he needed to go to the police, I could see from his face that he had bruises all over his face and marks on his neck, he was in a terrible state,” his aunt told the court.
A doctor from the hospital’s emergency room confirmed that he gave the woman a tetanus shot and antibiotics for the open wound on her body.
The defense accused the woman of lying
Yung Filly’s defense lawyer, Mr Edwardson, accused the young woman of lying about the incident and showed photos of her at a music festival the day after she was allegedly raped.
Yung claimed that she never wanted Filly to call her a fat pig or a dirty whore.
“I disagree,” he replied.
“He never slapped you,” the lawyer said.
“I totally disagree,” he replied
“I’m telling you it’s a bunch of lies and it didn’t happen,” Mr. Edwardson told him.
“I’m telling the truth,” the woman said, visibly upset.
“You would be very upset if all this happened, wouldn’t you?” he asked.
Mr Edwardson told him: “There is no doubt you were showing distress, were brutalized and violated.”
“I realized that every time I said it, it hurt me more,” he said.
“I wanted to make sure I stayed calm, kept my high-pitched voice up, acted as calm as possible. I wanted to make sure I didn’t make any scenario worse than it could have been.”
The trial continues.
