Man in court for allegedly drugging and raping four men he met on Grindr
Sam Ashley appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court
By Steve Brown
A man is in court for drugging and raping men he met on Grindr.
Sam Ashley has been accused of date raping a number of men in separate incidents spanning eight months, the jurors at Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
One victim was a student at the University of Portsmouth who allegedly “blacked out” and woke up to find Ashley having sex with him.
In a video played at the hearing, the victim said the 30 year old poured him a glass of cider as he watched football on TV.
He said: “I had a couple of sips, it wasn’t even a quarter of the glass. I sort of felt a bit shaky and wobbly then, not starting to spin but like I was on a boat in the middle of the sea.”
It was heard that the two went to Ashley’s bedroom and started kissing which they were both “OK with”, but then everything went blank.
He said: “We kissed, it went blank, the next thing I remember – he was behind me and we were having sex.
“He was quite forceful and I remember I sort of gripped the pillow and I was more concentrating on trying to figure out where I was and just stop the room spinning.
“I just wanted the room to stop spinning so I could figure out what was going on. Things went black again and he was pushing my head down on to his penis.”
The student said Ashely was “desperate for reassurance” and told police it all went black again but he remembers having sex with Ashley.
Ashley apparently told the student that he loves him and asked whether he loved him back.
In the following days, the student asked Ashley whether he put anything in his drink to which he said: “Are you suggesting I spiked your drink? If so no, I really liked you. Are you saying you didn’t want me or want anything?
“I did have a drink with a relaxant in it though.”
Ashley is accused of going on to drug three other men, including one man with HIV, and denies four rapes, two attempted rapes and four charges of administering a substance with intent.
Sleep drug zopiclone and diazepam were reportedly found in his bedside cabinet when he was arrested.
The trial is set to last three weeks.