A Championship striker allegedly raped a teenage girl after inviting her to ‘Netflix and chill’, a court heard today.

Blackpool forward Beryly ‘Bez‘ Lubala, 24, is accused of grabbing the 18-year-old by the hair, telling her to stop making noise and ‘be a good girl’ before the alleged rape on September 13, 2019.

The woman, now aged 20, told police she made it clear she did not want sex with the player in several text messages before driving to his home in Horsham near Crawley, West Sussex.

Although the pair had slept together in the past, the woman said they had ‘been friends for ages’ and she was invited to watch television.

During Mr Lubala’s trial at Lewes Crown Court today, a recording was played of the woman sobbing as she told police: ‘I said no and he carried on. He turned into a different person.

‘There was no kind of listening to what I did and didn’t want. It was just like a stranger.’

Blackpool forward Beryly 'Bez' Lubala, 24, is accused of grabbing the 18-year-old by the hair, telling her to stop making noise and 'be a good girl' before the alleged rape on September 13

Blackpool forward Beryly 'Bez' Lubala, 24, is accused of grabbing the 18-year-old by the hair, telling her to stop making noise and 'be a good girl' before the alleged rape on September 13

Blackpool forward Beryly ‘Bez’ Lubala, 24, is accused of grabbing the 18-year-old by the hair, telling her to stop making noise and ‘be a good girl’ before the alleged rape on September 13

Mr Lubala was attracting attention from Championship and Premier League scouts after joining Crawley Town from Birmingham City at the time of the alleged attack in September 2019. He joined Championship side Blackpool a year later.

The court heard the woman, who identifies as bisexual, had previously slept with the player twice before beginning a relationship with another woman.

One occasion took place in a hotel on the day he arrived in Crawley and again in a house he was sharing with other young players, but she blocked him from her social media while she was dating the woman.

After the relationship ended, the player contacted her again by text message.

The jury heard the player told her he only wanted to watch Netflix and chill before she agreed to visit him a third time.

Emotional voice messages recorded as the woman drove herself home were then played to the jury.

The striker was attracting attention from Championship and Premier League scouts after joining Crawley Town from Birmingham City at the time of the alleged attack in September 2019. He joined Championship side Blackpool a year later

The striker was attracting attention from Championship and Premier League scouts after joining Crawley Town from Birmingham City at the time of the alleged attack in September 2019. He joined Championship side Blackpool a year later

The striker was attracting attention from Championship and Premier League scouts after joining Crawley Town from Birmingham City at the time of the alleged attack in September 2019. He joined Championship side Blackpool a year later

Mr Lubala denies the woman's allegations as the trial continues at Lewes Crown Court (pictured)

Mr Lubala denies the woman's allegations as the trial continues at Lewes Crown Court (pictured)

Mr Lubala denies the woman’s allegations as the trial continues at Lewes Crown Court (pictured)

Prosecutor Richard Hearnden told the jury they could hear the woman say she felt ‘violated’ in the recordings of her phone call to police, in which she was heard crying. 

‘I drove up to my friend’s house,’ she said in the call. ‘We’ve been friends for ages. We have slept together in the past.

‘We were just chilling and it just happened and I didn’t want him to. I told him I didn’t want him to. I’m just driving home in the dark, I can’t stop crying.’

Mr Hearnden told the court: ‘She wasn’t raped by a stranger or outdoors or in the street or in an alleyway.

‘She was raped by a man she knew, in his house. She wasn’t in a relationship with the man but they had been intimate before.’

During cross-examination, the woman denied making up the allegation to cover her regret at sleeping with a man, after the jury heard she tried to retract her allegation twice before going to trial. 

Under questioning from defence barrister Julia Smart QC, the young woman became distressed and sobbed as she repeatedly denied inventing the rape.

Ms Smart suggested she mulled over what had happened with Mr Lubala, then aged 21, and regretted having sex with him.

‘No, I’m not a liar,’ she woman said.

‘I wouldn’t have put myself through two-and-a-half years of trauma if I had just regretted something. 

‘My sexuality has nothing to do with this.’ 

Graphic details of the alleged rape were put to the woman who said she is now in a stable same sex relationship. 

Ms Smart told the woman: ‘I’m going to suggest everything that happened in that bedroom was entirely with your consent and, in fact, at your instigation and you changed your mind.’

‘No, I never instigated anything. I come from a respectful family,’ the woman said.

Her Honour Judge Shani Barnes ended the cross examination by saying: ‘Enough.’

The woman confirmed she tried to withdraw her evidence and back out of the prosecution a year before trial.

Asked by Mr Hearnden why she tried to back out of the trial, the woman said: ‘I have a different life now.

‘I have a girlfriend and a career and I thought this would put me ten steps back and it has.’

Beryly Lubala denies raping the young woman at his home in Horsham in 2019. The trial at Lewes Crown Court in Brighton continues.

Source: Daily Mail

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