Prep School Rape Trial: Alleged Victim Felt ‘Frozen'

A teenage girl who accused a senior at an elite New Hampshire prep school of raping her told jurors Wednesday that she felt "frozen" when he became aggressive.

At times, the details were extremely graphic and the teen could barely speak through her tears. The former St. Paul's student spent the day telling the jury her side of what happened on the night of May 30, 2014, when she says Owen Labrie, now 19, raped her. She was a 15-year-old freshman.

She says after hesitation, she eventually accepted a "Senior Salute" invitation from Labrie, which she describes as a tradition at the prestigious prep school where upperclassmen send notes to younger students to meet up, or explore together an unseen part of campus. She says Labrie offered to take her to the rooftop of the Lindsay Building to a room where students weren't allowed.

"Looking out over the academic quad, the view was beautiful, I felt lucky to be up there," she said.

Minutes later she says Labrie took her back inside to a dark, industrial type room, started kissing her and then got aggressive.

"I was thinking, ouch, I am in pain, but I couldn't think of anything else, I was frozen," she said.

She goes into graphic detail of the sexual encounter, saying Labrie forced her to have sex even after she tried several times to stop him.

"I said, 'no, no, no, keep it up here,'" the alleged victim said. "I thought he would respect me, and he laughed, and said, 'you are tease.'"

The teen says she then just stared at the ceiling trying to convince herself it would be over soon.

In emails with Labrie after the alleged attack, he called her an "angel" and she called him a "good man." She wrote the term "haha" several times, but told the jury the truth is, she wasn't laughing, she was terrified, but didn't want to admit it, and didn't want to offend him. By the end of the night, she was convinced it was her own fault.

"I should have done more to stop it," she said. "I didn't kick or scream or push, I said 'no,' I said 'no' three times."

The alleged victim, who suffers from anxiety and depression, went to the school nurse for her daily medication that same weekend, and asked the nurse for the contraceptive called, "Plan B." When the nurse asked if the sex she had was consensual, the alleged victim said, "yes." When the prosecution asked why she would say that, the young girl admitted it was easier to say the sex was consensual, than to have to stand up against it. Eventually, the teen called her mom who came to campus and took her to Concord Hospital for a rape kit.

After that, the St. Paul's student went home for the summer.

In cross examination, Defense Attorney J. W. Carney, cited a police transcript that shows the alleged victim's friend told detectives about a conversation in which the alleged victim said she was willing to engage in different sexual acts with Labrie before leaving for the senior salute.

"No, I honestly have no recollection of saying those things," the alleged victim told Carney.

In an interview outside court Wednesday afternoon, Carney says his plan going forward in cross examination is to question the credibility of the alleged victim.

He also said Labrie will testify in his own defense.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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