A rape victim recounted on Monday how she tried to play for time by appealing to her aggressor’s emotions after her attempts at physically resisting the man’s violence proved futile.

“Do you have a family? A mother? A sister?” pleaded the woman, a young Thai working at a Sliema massage parlour on the day when the “tall, dark-skinned” stranger stepped inside asking for a massage.

That July 3 afternoon at around 4.20pm the employee was seated behind the desk at the small reception area of the Sliema shop when the man, later identified as 32-year-old Gambian construction worker Harona Conateh, rang the doorbell.

She opened the door and in stepped the man she had never seen before, wearing a dark polo shirt, loose-fitting bermudas and a yellow beanie.

“Is it possible to have a massage?” he asked in heavily accented English. “How much?”

Since she had another client booked at 5pm, the masseuse explained that she could only offer a 30-minute shoulder and back massage costing €30.

She handed him a brochure advertising all services available at the parlour.

The stranger pointed at a 90-minute service but the masseuse explained that she only had 30 minutes to spare.

“Ok. Thirty minutes ok,” agreed the man, pulling out €20 and €10 notes to pay.

She led him down a short hallway leading to the massage room and showed him inside, telling him to remove his polo shirt.

While she waited outside, she texted one of her bosses to let him know that a walk-in client had just turned up for a service.

When she re-entered the room, the client was still wearing his shirt. So she gestured to explain that he was to take it off.

She then told him to lie on the couch face down.

He lay down face upwards and refused to turn over, telling her, “no, no. Massage here,” indicating his chest.

“No, we don’t do that type of massage,” explained the woman.

The man quickly got off the couch, visibly irritated.

“I paid money,” he snapped, standing a metre or so away from the masseuse who refused his request, hastily handing back the cash.

The man took the money, slipped it into his pocket and stepped closer.

The assault

“No, you don’t understand,” he said and with one swift movement, he grabbed her spectacles and flung them away. The single earpod she was wearing, followed.

He then tried to grab her wrists.

She defended herself as best as she could, raising her arms as he advanced, forcing her closer to the wall and farther from the door.

As her back touched the wall, he pushed her to the floor, landing in a narrow space between the wall and the couch.

As he held her wrists with one hand, he removed her clothes and raped her with his finger.

“No, no, no, don’t do this to me,” she screamed as the attack continued.

“I began to think that I was going to be raped,” the woman recalled, assisted by two interpreters as she testified at length via videoconference from the magistrate’s chambers.

The witness also clearly identified the accused as her alleged aggressor.

She said her aggressor then produced out a white rope, less than one centimetre thick, and bound her wrists together, crossing the rope in a figure eight motion.

“That was when I realised that I could not resist his force.”

She began to cry.

"I cannot breathe"

“Now I know what you want. I’ll give you what you want. I cannot breathe. Untie me and I’ll give you what you want,” she told the man bending over her, trying to play for time to seek a way out. 

The man relented and untied her bonds.

“I cannot breathe. Can I stand up?” she asked.

The man let her stand and as she got to her feet realising he was aroused.

He stepped closer, gesturing that he wanted her to touch his chest.

That was when she appealed to his sense of pity.

“Do you have a family? A mother? A sister? How would you feel if this happened to your daughter or sister?”

“You don’t understand,” shouted the man, shoving her angrily.

She landed face down on the floor. She wriggled and struggled as he lowered himself, trying to penetrate her.

Then suddenly he stopped.

He snatched a paper sheath covering the couch, wiped himself and walked out of the room.

As she looked for her spectacles and pants, she heard the man’s final words.

He stopped at the main door and turning round told her: “next time don’t do this to me. It’s not good.”

Throughout the ordeal, which lasted between 15 and 20 minutes, she was alone at the parlour.

The woman phoned her boss, pleading with him to call in the police because she had been raped.

Two of her bosses later arrived at the shop. When they called the police they were instructed to accompany the victim to the Sliema police station.

From there she was taken by ambulance to Mater Dei hospital emergency where her injuries were photographed. A gynaecological examination confirmed a vaginal injury.

As she wrapped up her testimony, the woman said the ordeal left her “unhappy and unwell”.

Under cross-examination, she said she had returned to her job after three days but was now working at a different parlour.

The case presided over by Magistrate Kevan Azzopardi continues.

AG lawyers Angele Vella and Nicholas DeGaetano are prosecuting together with inspectors Clayton Camilleri, Wayne Buhagiar and Brian Xuereb.

Lawyer Ilona Schembri is legal aid counsel.