Commonwealth games swimmer accused of raping girl tells jury she was ‘flirtatious’
A Commonwealth Games swimmer accused of raping a girl after his fellow swimmer had sex with her has told a jury she was “flirtatious” with him before they had consensual sex.
Otto Putland, 24, who represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court accused of raping the woman after a night out in the city in July 2015.
The court has heard the woman went home with Putland’s friend, Olympic swimmer Ieuan Lloyd and the pair had consensual sex before Putland arrived at the address and entered the room where the woman was.
She previously told the jury she texted a friend for help when Putland came in, and Lloyd left, fearing that something might happen and that he had forced himself on her despite her saying “no”.
Giving his evidence on Monday, Putland said this was not true and that as far as he was concerned the woman consented to sex with him but did become upset afterwards.
He said he met Lloyd when he was 11 or 12 through swimming and they later went to the same secondary school, Stanwell School in Penarth, near Cardiff.
Putland said at the time of the alleged offence he would have been doing eight to 10 swimming sessions per week and two gym sessions, as well as studying at the University of South Wales.
Putland said Lloyd lived at an address in the Splott area of Cardiff with two other young men they knew through swimming and he would stay there after nights out rather than go back to his family home.
He told jurors he had gone to the nightclub at around 11pm and spent most of the evening on one of the dancefloors.
He did not remember meeting the woman Lloyd was with or knowing when his friend left or who with.
Putland said he returned to the address and probably drank some water.
“I have gone upstairs and I have had some kind of chat with Ieuan in the landing doorway area and he had made some sort of reference to (the woman) being there and then introduced us,” he said.
“I can’t remember exactly what was said … after Ieuan introduced me to (the woman) there was some sort of three-way chit chat going on and I have sat down on the bed and I have been talking to (the woman).
“I am not sure when Ieuan’s left.”
Putland said he could not remember the specifics of the conversation but the woman was “happy chatting to me” and so he moved up to her side of the bed and started kissing her and she responded by kissing him back.
He said he did this because of her body language and demeanor during their “chat”, describing her as “very friendly and happy and flirtatious”.
“I think putting a condom on didn’t help but I did not have a full erection so when we went to have sex after that it didn’t go quite accordingly,” he said, explaining what had happened next.
Putland said they had sex for about a minute but he then “gave up”.
He said: “(The woman) was fine until shortly afterwards and she said something along the lines of ‘I feel like I have been passed around’ or something like that.
“I said we hadn’t passed her around.”
Putland said the woman became upset and he did not remember her going to the bathroom but thought she had collected her belongings from the bedroom.
Cross-examining him Janet McDonald, for the prosecution, asked if the woman was lying when she said she had turned away from Putland, said “no” and put her hands over her genitals to block him from having sex with her.
Putland said she was lying.
Ms McDonald asked if it was Putland’s intention to have “fulfilling sexual intercourse” or to prove to Lloyd he could have sex with the woman.
Putland said it was the former and denied he felt in Lloyd’s shadow.
Ms McDonald said: “It wasn’t meaningful sex for you, it was enough to get the conquest.
“You just wanted to get your penis into (the woman) so you could say to Ieuan ‘I’ve had sex with her too.”
Putland, of Dinedor, near Hereford, who faces one count of rape, which he denies, said that was not the case.
The trial continues.
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