Woman claims she was raped by man she met on dating app, Sean Gallagher from Theale

Update: Jury acquits Sean Gallagher on all charges: https://premium.newburytoday.co.uk/news/not-guilty-jury-clears-man-of-rape-charge-9436191/

A WOMAN has told jurors she was brutally raped by a man she met via online dating.

During her ordeal, she was told to shut up and was strangled until she gasped for breath, Reading Crown Court was told.

In the dock was 25-year-old Sean Gallagher, of Church Street, Theale, who denies committing rape and intentional strangulation in the Reading postal area on a specific date in 2023.

The woman told jurors on Monday, September 29, she had previously enjoyed consensual sex with Mr Gallagher after exchanging messages and photos on a dating app.

But, on the night in question, he reportedly came into her home the worse for alcohol.

The woman, who can not be identified, said: “He stumbled into my room, drunk and slurring his words; I was in bed when he arrived.”

Mr Gallagher began kissing and fondling her roughly, the court was told, and became angry when she rejected his advances.

The woman added: “It started off normal but got very aggressive; I was saying ‘ow.’”

She said Mr Gallagher did not stop but ripped off her underwear then put his hand round her neck.

She told jurors it was obvious she was gasping for breath and in pain and added: “When he loosened up, I said ‘ow’ as soon as I could.

“I kept saying ‘I don’t want this.’”

She said it would also have been patently obvious from her facial expressions that she was in distress.

The woman claimed Mr Gallagher then raped her without a condom, which they had used on the previous occasion they had sex.

She said: “He put his hand over my mouth and told me to shut up; he seemed angry that I was in discomfort.

“Then I pushed him…he got more angry.

“That’s when I told him to get out; he said: ‘What did I come here for, then?’

“I just lay there without speaking, with my hand over my face.

“He started to call me names and said I was childish and to grow up, then patted my face, patronisingly.”

She said when Mr Gallagher dressed and got up to use the bathroom she locked herself in her bedroom and tearfully called a friend.

The woman said Mr Gallagher tried her door and, finding it locked, left.

The woman said she confided in her friend and, later on, her family.

She said she sustained bruising all over her shoulders, back, arms and legs.

During a police interview she was asked whether she and Mr Gallagher had discussed having rough sex.

She replied: “Yes, but not like that,” and insisted that what happened was not consensual.

The woman was giving evidence on Tuesday, September 30; the defence has yet to put its case to jurors and the trial continues.