A charedi man kidnapped his ex-wife and raped her in a “hidden dungeon” before leaving her there to go home for Succot, a court heard this week.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of one count of kidnap, two counts of rape and one count of false imprisonment on October 15 last year.
An associate is accused of aiding and abetting two acts of rape. Both men deny the charges.
Charlotte Newell, prosecuting, told Snaresbrook Crown Court, that the men had sprayed the alleged victim with gas that knocked her out and carried her down to what she described as a dungeon inside a warehouse, in Stamford Hill, where she was bound and raped twice. She was then locked in, with no obvious means of escape.
She eventually cut herself free and phoned the police.
Ms Newell described how police officers had to break into the warehouse and, where they heard the complainant screaming for help.
PC Jamie Preston, giving evidence, said the complainant was “distressed and disoriented”, and wore only a pink dressing gown.
The defendant admits that the sex took place but says it was consensual.
Defending barrister Jonathan Goldberg told the jury that the the woman had been involved in an argument with the defendant, after which she produced the spray and tried to use it on him.
The defendant, Mr Goldberg said then “took her down there [to the cellar] and one thing led to another and they had fully consensual sex down in that place”.
The defendant’s contention is that the “dungeon” was in fact a safe room, intended as a refuge against a potential attack by Muslim terrorists.
