Former West Ham player Cristian Montano and friends ‘gang-raped’ woman at Romford apartments, trial hears
Christian Montano and his co-defendants deny rape. Picture: PA - Credit: EMPICS Sport
A former West Ham star took part in a gang rape after a night out clubbing in Romford, a court heard.
The Axiom Apartments in Mercury Gardens - Credit: Archant
Midfielder Cristian Montano, 22, took the woman back to Axiom Apartments, Mercury Gardens, in the town centre, with two friends and attacked her as she pleaded with them to stop, it is claimed.
The woman says she woke up naked with the Oldham Athletic player on top of her while his friends Andres Hurtado, 23, and Camilo Valencia, 22, watched.
When Montano had finished, Hurtado had sex with the 22-year-old, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Once he had finished the victim tried to get up but could not move while an already undressed Valencia got on top of her to humiliate her further, jurors heard.
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The victim says she repeatedly told the men to stop while she was repeatedly raped.
The woman had met the Colombian-born Montano on a night-out with friends in Liquid night club, in South Street, it is said.
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She remembers leaving the club with the men before losing her friend.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “My next memory was waking up in the bedroom, naked, with no clothes on.
“One of them was having sex with me and he said something in another language and then a couple of them came back into the room.
“I was trying to push him off me but I couldn’t, he was too strong but I was saying: ‘Get off me.’
“The others were just stood there watching.
“Immediately after that another guy got into the bed and he penetrated me as well.
“I kept saying ‘no’ but he didn’t say anything and he just kept going.
“I tried to get up and move off the bed but I couldn’t, then another guy, he was already undressed, and it was all over quickly.”
The three men called her a cab.
She was given her clothes back and her phone but her bag was never returned.
Montano was a trainee with West Ham and had loan spells at other clubs including Dagenham and Redbridge.
He was released last year by West Ham and moved to Oldham.
Montano, of Caspian Road, Greater Manchester; Valencia of Woolridge Way, Hackney; and Hurtado of Pemberton Gardens, Upper Holloway, all deny rape.
