“The whole time I was trying to pray Hail Marys in my head,” the alleged DIA rape victim told a Denver jury. “Then I heard shouting. It sounded really far away.”
The shouting came from two Frontier airline mechanics barreling toward the purported sex assault unfolding on the normally high-traffic carpet of a deserted Denver International Airport concourse just after midnight on April 12, 2012.
By the time rescue arrived, the praying woman said she had her head slammed into the ground about a dozen times, been slapped repeatedly about the thighs and lower back and been sexually assaulted violently.
Those silent prayers were one of several courtroom references to Catholicism as both prosecution and defense used the woman’s faith to bolster their cases during the opening day of Noel Bertrand’s rape trial in Denver District Court. The trial continues Wednesday.
Prosecutors Bonnie Benedetti and Isabel Pallares say Bertrand, charged with Class 3 felony sexual assault, beat and raped the woman with the sadistic goal of teaching her “pleasure from pain.”
Defense attorney Wadi Muhaisen insisted it was consensual rough sex and gave a novel motive for what he called false allegations.
During cross examination, he noted she was flying to Illinois the night of the assault to vie for entrance into a year-long training program at a Catholic convent community.
He referenced her statements to an Denver detective following the alleged attack, that she didn’t drink to excess at the airport because it would be gluttony, considered a mortal sin by the church. She’d have to confess, the attorney said.
“You were concerned about having a mortal sin on your soul,” Muhaisen said. “You wouldn’t want to say ‘I also have the sin of lust on my soul because of what I did at an airport.’ “
The 23-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld because she may be a victim of sexual assault, was quick with a firm reply: “I never lusted at an airport.”
Throughout testimony Tuesday, Bertrand, 27, sat taking notes or conferring with his attorney, only twice turning to look at his accuser. The woman spoke calmly about details of the attack, though she grew emotional at times when discussing the most brutal parts of her story.
Several jurors winced or scowled listening to her testimony.
When she and Bertrand met, he was just a nice fellow who made room for her at the crowded airport bar and talked about his military service, their mutual home state of Oregon and religion, she said.
Both of them were stranded overnight at DIA.
The bar closed. They decided to continue their “gentle debate” about the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion in one of the gate waiting areas, she said.
He asked for a kiss. When she refused, Bertrand grew violent, grabbed her by the hair and choked her, the woman testified. At one point, she said, he ripped the crucifix from around her neck and threw it on the floor.
He told her he’d make her his sex slave, she said.
“I was making gagging sounds,” she said, pausing for a minute to compose herself. “I wasn’t trying to say ‘no’ anymore. I was just trying to breathe. He was saying that the sound I was making was sexy.”
Muhaisen challenged parts of the woman’s testimony, saying she’d not told anyone about certain details of the attack — such as Bertrand biting her face around her mouth or groping her chest — before the trial.
He pointed out that her family had contacted an attorney about a lawsuit against the airport, though they’d not yet decided whether to proceed.
And Muhaisen said there were many times before she suffered an asthma attack when she could have screamed or fought back, but didn’t.
“You didn’t pull away from him. You didn’t roll over. You didn’t just drop,” Muhaisen said.
The alleged victim declined to comment outside the courthouse following her testimony. Her father would only say he was proud of her.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 , jfender@denverpost.com or
