Rape trial defendant verbally abused in dock by member of the public
John Ashby is accused of carrying out a religiously aggravated rape on a stranger
Last updated 16 hours ago
The trial of a man accused of carrying out a religiously aggravated rape on a stranger was disrupted when a member of the public walked up to the dock and shouted verbal abuse.
Jurors saw the man confront John Ashby, who denies raping a Sikh woman he wrongly believed was a Muslim, on the second day of the 32-year-old’s trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Prosecutors allege Ashby, of no fixed abode, attacked the victim in Walsall in October after following her off a bus and entering her home while she was upstairs.
Extracts from body-worn police footage showing the woman, who cannot be identified, were played to a jury of six men and six women on Tuesday, during which she was comforted by a female officer and said her attacker had called her a “bloody Muslim bitch”.
The woman, said by witnesses to have been hysterical while repeatedly screaming, told police she had been raped in a bathroom by the intruder, who was armed with a piece of wood and claimed to be a “British master”.
In a video interview played to the court, the complainant told police: “He had a stick in his hand. I said ‘who are you’ and I started screaming.
“He switched off the light. He said ‘I just want fun with you’. He said ‘you are a f** Muslim bitch, I said I am not a Muslim, I am a Sikh.”
The woman also told police the man was initially aggressive and had continuously verbally abused her but then became calm.
As the video interview was being played to the jury, a man left the public gallery and approached the glass-fronted dock and swore at Ashby.
The man told Ashby “you need to sort your shit out”.
Ashby responded by telling the man to “get the f*** out of my face” and also shouted at another member of the public who had remained seated in the public gallery.
Trial judge Mr Justice Pepperall adjourned the case, sending the jury away for a lunch break.
Following the break, the trial resumed without Ashby in the dock.
The judge instructed the jury to ignore the “rather ugly” and “intemperate exchange” involving Ashby and a member of the public, saying: “It should not have happened.”
The judge added: “Put that out of your mind – it’s not evidence in this case.”
Addressing Ashby’s absence from the courtroom, the judge said: “You will notice that the dock is empty.
“Mr Ashby has voluntarily chosen to exercise his right not come up in to the courtroom this afternoon. Please do not speculate further as to why he is not here. It’s the evidence you need to focus on.”
Ashby further denies intentional strangulation, robbery and religiously aggravated assault.