Yes, she had a drink at the bar that night. Yes, she let him drive her home. Yes, she let Robert Spurgeon inside to use the bathroom, the woman said on the witness stand Thursday.
But no, never, did she consent to sex with the Bensalem man, the woman testified at a preliminary hearing for Spurgeon, 40, who is accused of raping the woman during the early morning of Feb. 15.
At a hearing filled with graphic testimony, the woman — the prosecution’s only witness — told the court how she let Spurgeon, who police confirm knew the victim, use her bathroom after he took her to her Bensalem home, but then attacked her while her two children slept in other rooms.
The woman testified that after using the bathroom, Spurgeon entered her bedroom through one of the two bathroom doors. There he forcibly pulled off her clothing, pushed her onto her bed and held her down by her arms and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
Bucks County prosecutor Matt Hoover asked if she said anything while this was happening.
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| Robert Spurgeon |
“ ‘No. Stop. Please stop. Why are you doing this?’ ” the woman answered.
When asked why she didn’t yell for help, the woman responded she didn’t want to wake her children.
“I initially told him my kids are here, please,” she said. “Eventually he started repeating it back to me, ‘You must be quiet because your kids are asleep.’ ”
At one point during the attack, when Spurgeon allegedly threw her on the floor, the woman said she managed to grab her cell phone and started recording the attack. Defense attorney Tom Kenny accused the victim of “breaking the law” when she recorded Spurgeon without his permission.
In his cross-examination, Kenny’s strategy appeared to question the credibility of the witness. At one point, the attorney asked the woman if she accused his client of rape because she was embarrassed that she had sex with him while intoxicated.
The woman testified she had one drink at the bar.
“You invited him into your bedroom right?” the attorney asked.
“No,” the woman replied.
“Is any of your clothing ripped?”
She wasn’t sure, the woman answered.
The woman’s brother was removed from the courtroom after yelling “objection,” after Kenny asked her to describe a sexual act she was allegedly forced to perform. Police said they don’t plan to file contempt charges against the brother.
Bensalem District Judge Joseph Falcone held Spurgeon for trial on all charges including forcible rape, sexual assault and a newly added count of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, as well as related charges. He remains free after posting 10 percent of his $75,000 bail.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter: @jociavaglia
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