A young woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by a volunteer Metropolitan Police officer told a court she thought he could “kill” her.
Amersham Law Courts heard that James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, assaulted the alleged victim multiple times while she was between the ages of 12 and 18.
The trial heard they met on video chat site Omegle in 2018, when the complainant was 12 years old and the defendant was about 21, before meeting in person for the first time at a Christian festival a few months later.
On Thursday, the complainant said she was 18 when Bubb assaulted her at the defendant’s studio flat in Chesham.
The defendant is charged with assault by penetration in relation to the complainant, relating to the alleged assault in 2024.
Of this alleged assault, prosecutor Richard Milne asked: “You said the word that he had ‘raped’ you, can you explain what aspects of the sexual activity between you were in your mind rape and why?”
The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: “The fact that I didn’t consent, I couldn’t consent with the gag in my mouth, I didn’t feel there was any way to consent that.”
She went on to say that she froze during the alleged attack which she thought could “ruin my chance of fertility for life, and potentially kill me”.
The complainant said she had told the defendant she was five years older when they first started speaking online, had sent them photos of herself wearing her school uniform but was “scared” they would reject her if she revealed her true age.
The alleged victim’s mother told the court that she could often hear a “male voice” coming from her child’s bedroom at night when the complainant was about 11 to 12.
She clarified that she thought this voice belonged to “a man”.
The trial previously heard that Bubb allegedly sexually assaulted the complainant on Shepherd’s Bush Green while she was visiting London with her parents to celebrate her forthcoming 13th birthday.
Of this trip, her mother told jurors that her child had “disappeared” for a period while the family were in a shopping centre buying her birthday presents, and that the complainant’s father said he thought she had “gone to meet a friend”.
“She didn’t come back, we were meant to board the train to go home and I’d waited, we’d waited for half an hour, maybe an hour, and I began to get really panicked,” she said.
After the child returned, her mother said she seemed “very subdued” on their journey home and did not tell her about the alleged assault until “much later on”.
The defendant, wearing a white shirt and black cardigan, dabbed their eyes and appeared to be crying at points during the hearing.
The 27-year-old has denied one count of rape in relation to one complainant, and two counts of rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration in relation to the other complainant.
A not guilty verdict on one of the rape charges in relation to the second complainant was returned on Wednesday after the prosecution offered no evidence.
All charges are alleged to have taken place between January 1 2018 and April 2 2024.
The defendant, of High Street, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, denies all charges.
The trial continues.
