A WOMAN, who claims she was kidnapped last September by a man who then threatened to rape her, denied yesterday she has had sexual intercourse for money.
The 23 year old shop worker, who cannot be named, described the claim as a "load of rubbish" after being questioned by a defence lawyer at the Belfast Crown Court trial of Mr Mark Thomas Clarke (29), of no fixed abode.
Mr Clarke's lawyer had suggested to the woman that she had had a sexual relationship for money with the former landlord of her best friend. She denied the allegation.
Mr Clarke is accused of abducting and assaulting her with intent to rape and of kidnapping a second woman four hours later, after she had escaped when left alone in a flat in the Markets area of the city.
Mr Clarke, picked out by both women as their alleged attacker at separate police identification parades, denies the charges. The first of his alleged victims claimed he her into his car at knife point after asking for directions and drove her to the Giant's Ring, where he tied her hands using plastic bands or tags.
She said Mr Clarke told her he was a policeman, but took her to a flat where he said he was going to rape her. She said she managed to escape when he left the flat, telling her he was going to "get rid of the car".
After her friend called the police, she said she retraced her escape route with them and took them to the flat where she claimed she had been held. Later under cross examination, the woman agreed that the three descriptions she gave to police were "basically different" and that she had not included in any description that Mr Clarke has a disfigured forehead.
However, the woman, who at times wept, maintained that Mr Clarke was her attacker, and denied defence suggestions that she was "playing guessing games" at his expense and that she had picked out an innocent man from the police line up. "I'll never forget his face. He looks so evil," she told the court.
Earlier, Crown counsel told the trial judge, Mr Justice McCollum, that within hours of the attack the defendant kidnapped another woman, who also managed to escape. The screaming student flagged down a taxi after he failed to bundle her into his car.
The trial is expected to last a week.