Alleged Drug Dealer Accused Of Gunpoint Graveyard Rape

A drug-dealer lured a vulnerable addict to a dark graveyard and raped her at gunpoint, a jury were told yesterday.

Morgan Brooks, 26, of the YMCA hostel, Lansdowne Road, Croydon convinced his terrified victim the gun-shaped cigarette lighter was a genuine firearm and held it to her head throughout the ordeal.

"He preyed upon her vulnerability, he lured her to a graveyard and subjected her to a degrading attack to satisfy his own sense of power and sexual gratification," prosecutor Miss Hanna Llewellyn-Waters told Croydon Crown Court.

Brooks (pictured) has pleaded not guilty to raping the young woman at Croydon Parish Church, Church Street on January 22, 2010 and possessing an imitation firearm, with intent to commit an indictable offence, namely rape.

The pair had met ten days earlier and Brooks - who identified himself only as AJ - twice sold her small amounts of heroin and crack cocaine, the court was told.

"She was or is a drug addict and used heroin and crack, but she has sought help in the past and is prescribed methadone," explained Miss Llewellyn-Waters.

The victim agreed to meet Brooks in Croydon after he offered her a free "tester" - drugs he wanted to asses the purity of.

It was 7pm and dark as the defendant instructed her to walk to, where the only lighting was a torch he was carrying.

"She did not want to go in, but he said he was not going to give her drugs in the street," said the prosecutor.

"He produced what appeared to be a gun and she believed it was a genuine firearm and he put it to her head."

The young woman was then forced to the ground and raped, the jury were told.

"She cried all the way through the incident. She did not want to do it, she was extremely scared and all the time the firearm was pressed to the side of her head.

"She described that it made her feel sick and violated.

"He hit her on the back of the head, possibly with his fist or the imitation firearm and threatened her that if she told anyone he would shoot her in the head."

DNA evidence proves the chances of anyone else having sexual contact with the victim are a billion to one and police found the cigarette-lighter gun in Brooks' room.

Trial continues……….