Boasting of his “highly sensitive” work in the US aerospace defence industry Angelo Fernando, 46, told the woman he needed to perform a drug search after having his drink spiked on another date.
However, Inner London Crown Court heard this was an elaborate ruse, which allowed him to grope the woman’s breasts and touch her between her legs during their first date at a four-star hotel.
Fernando, of Chifney Court, Bridle Close, Surbiton has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexually assaulting the woman at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge Road, on August 28, 2019.
“He started from the ankle up, all the way up and I felt very uncomfortable and told him to stop and he carried on with the other leg and the same thing happened again,” she told the trial.
She said on both occasions Fernando touched her between the legs. “He said it was necessary to have a search.
“He ran his hands down the side of my breasts and said: ‘Oh. You’re not wearing a bra,’ and then ran his hands down the front. It was a slow cupping motion.”
She told the jury she continued the date to discover more about Fernando and expose him, but he claims she tried to extract a £3,000 per month retainer from him as his ’Sugar Baby.’
They were both registered to the SeekingArrangement dating website, which markets itself as the place to find high net worth and successful individuals
Fernando told her she had “expressive and captivating eyes” in his gushing online introduction, in which he described her as “intelligent, elegant and classy.”
He told her he was an economics graduate and had been a City investment banker and worked in the world of private equity before establishing his own financial consultancy, specialising in defence, security and aviation.
“I thought he was some kind of spy that had a job that required you to have some sort of check,” she said. “He painted a picture really well that excited me and he was someone that I’d like to meet.
“He told me he moved about the world and was not based in London.
“The story of what he was doing, what he did and how he had been spiked and needed this security operation just to go on a date sounded like a different world.”
They met at nearby Waterloo Station for the first time, with the woman saying Fernando looked nothing like his online profile picture, confirming that she had consented to the search in advance.
“He said there was a search on every date he had with a female and it would be by a professional, a thorough airport-style security search,” she told the jury from behind a screen.
“He said he didn’t have time to find anyone and would do it himself and I thought that was fine.”
Inside the hotel Fernando took her up to a secluded area near a fire exit, where he also ran his hands up her bare legs and under her mini-dress.
“There was a wet mop and bucket and cleaning sign there and anybody could have walked in, but he said it was a discreet space out of the public eye,” she said.
“At the end he insinuated it was not as thorough a search as he would have liked.”
Denying she asked Fernando for £3,000 per month she told the court: “I signed-up for the website because it sounded exciting. Maybe I went on it because I was bored.
“What ’Stefan’ said to me in the first message sounded very exciting and very dramatic and I was interested to meet him.”
Fernando’s lawyer Paul Webb put to her: “You were looking for financial reward by going on that website.”
She replied: “It was said of the site that you got taken for drinks and I guess there is a financial side to it, but I never asked for money if that’s what you are trying to insinuate”
The woman denied trying to obtain funding from Fernando for a vegan television project.
However, the lawyer suggested: “If you can find a sugar daddy your sugar baby status of just going for a few drinks will get you three thousand pounds a month. It’s a very attractive proposition isn’t it?”
Fernando admits performing the search, but insist it only involved him running his hands down the woman’s back and sides and beneath her bustline.
In his online introduction to the woman Fernando also claimed to be well travelled, having recently visited Canada and South Korea and was a lover of theatre, opera and classical music.
He was looking for someone who also had a disdain for then-US President Donald Trump; was pro-EU and politically left of centre and claimed his ultimate ambition was to open an animal rescue centre.
The woman’s political values matched Fernando’s preferences and he was impressed by her vegan yoga-loving lifestyle and long-term ambitions to be a teacher.
However, within an hour of meeting him she alerted the hotel staff about his behaviour and dialled 999.
“I think it was a very well worked-out plan,” she told the court. “I was overwhelmed by what was going on, this guy had given me a massive story.”
Fighting back tears she added: “It was a scary situation. I thought I was going to be raped at one point.”
Trial continues………….
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