Ched Evans Trial News: Rape Victim’s Boyfriend Testifies as Retrial Closes, Girlfriend Natasha Massey Continues To Support Embattled Chesterfield Striker

In the latest news on the retrial of English footballer Ched Evans, an ex-boyfriend of Evans’ alleged rape victim told the court on Wednesday that “I believe she is lying.” The case closed on Thursday with the judge urging the jury to be impartial in reaching a verdict.

Justice Nicola Davies told the jury to deliberate on the case objectively after both sides presented their closing arguments on Thursday, the BBC reported

The witness, whose name was withheld, testified that he was in a “purely sexual” relationship with the victim, who he met on Facebook. He told the Cardiff Crown Court that the woman, who was 19-years-old at the time, had stayed in his house for two nights before Evans allegedly raped her at an inn in Wales, the Sun reported.

The victim claims that Evans raped her in 2011 at an Inn in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire. Ched Evans, 27, denies raping the woman. Although he was previously convicted, the verdict was overturned on an appeal earlier this year.

Evans’ rape victim’s former lover told the court that she had followed him back home about “two to three times” after a party. He added that one morning after a night out drinking, she told him she could not remember what happened during the night.

“She asked me if anything had happened the night before. It was like she didn’t know nothing,” he said. “I was surprised because I did not think she was that drunk.”

He also testified that the woman had told him to “go harder” when they had sex. Evans, a former Manchester City player, had told the jury that the woman said the same thing when they had sex.

The young woman at the center of the case, whose identity cannot be revealed, claims that Evans raped her. She claims she was too intoxicated to give her consent when the incident occurred.

The woman, who had not spoken to Evans before the incident, reportedly went to the hotel with Clayton McDonald, a footballer and friend of Evans.

Evans lied to the Hotel staff to get a key card to the room where McDonald and the woman were staying, the Guardian reported. Evans also entered the room without knocking.

Evans said although he did not speak to the woman, his friend asked if he could join, and she agreed. McDonald reportedly asked, “Can my mate join in?” After having sex with the woman, Evans left the hotel room via the fire exit.

In his closing argument at the retrial, Prosecutor Simon Medland QC said the international footballer felt he was entitled to have sex with the woman regardless of how she felt about it.

Medland, who told the court that Evans said he would never hurt a woman, also said the footballer “treated her with a callous, self-centered indifference essentially indistinguishable from utter contempt.”

“We suggest the defendant couldn’t have cared less whether [the complainant] wanted sex with him or not. This wealthy, successful young footballer felt entitled to have her and did so regardless of what she wanted and in doing so, we submit to you this was rape and consensual sex,” he added.

However, Evans’ defense argued that the footballer is on trial for allegedly raping a woman, not because he failed to be chivalrous.

“He is charged with rape, not acting in an immoral way,” Judy Khan QC, Evans’ lawyer said.

Khan, who encouraged the jury to put emotions aside, also said that although the victim was drunk, the sex was consensual. “Drunken consent is consent,” she argued.

Evans had cheated on his girlfriend, Natasha Massey, on the night of the incident. However, she has remained supportive of the Chesterfield player though his legal battle.

[Featured Image by Ker Robertson/Getty Images]