Daniel Gravell denies indecent assault and three counts of rape
A teenager allegedly raped outside a rugby club desperately tried to get by tapping on a window and then mouthing the word “help”, a court has heard.
The woman is one of three females who accuse former teacher and hotel manager Daniel Gravell of raping them in separate incidents over a 20-year period – accusations the 44-year-old denies.
Gravell is alleged to have raped and indecently assaulted a woman at his home in Carmarthenshire in 2001, to have raped a different woman in a “secluded spot” behind the Carmarthen Athletic rugby clubhouse in 2005, and to have raped a third woman in the Baltic Hotel in Pontyates in 2021.
The defendant, of Porth-y-Plas, Johnstown, Carmarthen, denies all the allegations saying the 2001 incident “simply never happened” and that the 2005 and 2021 incidents were consensual.
On Friday the alleged victim in the 2005 incident appeared in the witness box to give evidence. The jury also watched a recorded police interview with the alleged victim in the 2011 incident. You can read our coverage of the day’s proceedings – which started with a juror being discharged – here.
Here are the key moments from day four of the trial:
- The alleged victim in the 2005 in incident told the jury that Gravell approached her outside the Rose and Crown pub in Carmarthen town centre claiming to know her father. She said he then took her by the arm and pulled her down an alley to a spot near the Carmarthen Athletic RFC clubhouse where he raped her
- The woman said as she was being taken past a window, Gravell pushed her head down so she wouldn’t be seen. She said tried to tap on the window it to get help, saying she knew the window was her “last chance”
- The complainant also said that while Gravell was attacking her a woman walked past and she tried to raise the alarm by mouthing the word “help”. She said she didn’t say the word out loud as she didn’t want Gravell to know what she was doing
- Defence barrister Julia Flangan pointed out that the woman had not mentioned anything about tapping on the window or trying to get help from a passer-by in her original police statement. The barrister accused the witness of “embellishing” her account
- The defence barrister put it to the witness that she had voluntarily gone to the Athletic clubhouse with Gravell and engaged in consensual activity with him there – the witness denied that saying: “I would never choose to do that in a public place”
- The jury also saw the videoed interview with the woman in the 2021 allegation. In her interview the woman described how Gravell was a “random” person on Facebook who started messaging her, and she said they agreed to meet for coffee but he instead drove her to the Baltic Hotel which he claimed to own
- The woman said Gravell showed her around the hotel then took her to one of its rooms, and she said she he was “smug” and she was getting a “freaky vibe” from him. The woman said that Gravell locked the door to the bedroom and then raped her, saying the “horrible” grunting noises he made during the attack have stuck in her mind
The defendant denies one count of indecent assault and three counts of rape, and the trial continues.

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