Woman tells jury of rape and suffocation

A woman has denied inventing being raped by a man charged with two murders.

Simon Levy, of Tottenham in north London, who pleaded not guilty to killing Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39, is alleged to have attacked the surviving woman in the months before the deaths of the pair.

The prosecution told the Old Bailey on Monday that Levy has previous convictions for sexual assault.

The woman, who cannot be named to preserve her anonymity, told the jury she would "never forget the smell of his hand on my face".

The alleged rape happened in the same car park where Wilkins was later found dead, the court heard.

Afterwards, the woman told a friend what had happened, as well as warning another woman Levy was a "rapist".

Four days later she also told police she had been raped, but was not well enough to be interviewed at the time because she was withdrawing from drugs, the court has heard.

Defence barrister Siobhan Grey KC accused the woman of lying about what happened.

The witness responded: "He raped me. He suffocated me. I never forget his face and the smell of his hand on my face."

Earlier, the woman wept as she told jurors she had lost consciousness after a man, who she knew from the area of White Hart Lane, strangled her, jumped on her back, breaking her collarbone, and raped her.

Grey suggested the woman picked out Levy in an identity parade because she recognised him as somebody she knew from the local library.

The woman replied: "That is the man who raped me and I'm not going to say anything else any more."

A widower who befriended the woman and gave her food and a place to shower said she had told him about being raped and had red marks on her neck.

He said: "I was watching television. She rang my doorbell. She was crying, shaking, she would not speak properly. She was really, really upset. She told me 'I was raped'."

He said that she did not want to call police because she was "scared" and "would not have it".

She went on to describe her attacker, who she knew, and said the rape happened in the car park, he said.

He went on: "She was very distressed and also she had a big scratch on the right side of her neck and her neck was really red."

Levy denies two charges of rape, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and non-fatal suffocation against the surviving woman.

The trial continues.

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