SAFC ex-player rape trial contiues
Cabral is accused of attacking a woman in Gateshead.
A woman has broken down in tears as she told a court how she was raped by a former Premier League footballer.
The 21-year-old woman told Hull Crown Court that she tried to call for help as former Sunderland player Cabral, whose real name is Adilson Tavares Varela, pinned her down on his bed.
The jury heard that she met the footballer in a nightclub in Newcastle and went back to his flat in Gateshead with friends, including former French international Anthony Reveillere.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sobbed uncontrollably as she denied that she was attracted to the midfielder and was expecting a sexual relationship.
She has told the trial that she went into his bedroom with him to fetch socks for herself and her friends because their feet were cold.
She said Varela, 27, then pushed her down on to his bed and raped her as she told him to stop and tried to push him away.
The jury saw video clips taken in the nightclub earlier on the evening of January 24 2015, showing a group of people, including the woman and Varela.
The woman denied that they were dancing and kissing in the nightclub and said she did not know that he was a footballer.
The woman broke down in tears as she denied suggestions by defence barrister Kitty Taylor that she had consensual sex with Varela after becoming attracted to him in the nightclub.
Ms Taylor said:
"I'm suggesting you clocked him in that club as someone you were attracted to. That started an evening of mutual attraction between you that ended in consensual sex in his flat.''
Ms Taylor said the woman had no reason to follow Varela into his bedroom and suggested that she wanted to be alone with him, which she also denied.
She said:
"You went in the bedroom to sit on the bed expecting to have some sexual relationship with him...there had been an atmosphere building up between you during the evening of attraction, wasn't there?
It's right, isn't it, that you started mutually kissing each other, touching each other and then having sex?
All the contact between you was completely consensual.''
Ms Taylor asked the woman why she did not shout to her friends for help.
The woman said:
"I tried shouting but my voice wasn't working. I tried but I knew they wouldn't be able to hear us.''
Ms Taylor suggested that the woman was "upset'' because Varela saw the sex between them as "functional''.
Cape Verde-born Varela, who now plays for Swiss team FC Zurich, denies two counts of rape.
The trial continues later (Wednesday 27/04/16)