(Image: Newsquest)
A man allegedly raped after being accused of punching a woman told a jury the attack had ‘destroyed’ him.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was held inside a County Durham home, where three people allegedly stabbed and sexually abused him.
Under cross-examination, the man admitted hitting the woman after she showed him a knife tucked into her waistband.
Claire Dowson allegedly delivered the first stab wound, shouted "show him who we are" and urged Michael Boslem and John Hyde to join the attack, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The alleged victim told police that Hyde pinned him to a sofa while Boslem raped him and Dowson laughed at him.
Jurors heard how Boslem and Hyde admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent but denied raping the man at the Ushaw Moor house.
Hyde’s barrister, Michael Forrest, questioned the witness about the alleged attack.
The alleged victim said: “I know it’s your job to stick up for them, but you are just defending a pair of f****** animals.
“I was shouting ‘get off, get off’ the whole time it happened.”
Mr Forrest told the witness that the rape did not happen.
He replied: “They have done this to me. They have destroyed me.”
Mr Forrest asked the alleged victim about injuries he is said to have caused by hitting Gemma Watson shortly before the attack.
The man denied deliberately giving Watson a black eye or making her lip bleed.
"I gave her a backhander when he threatened me with the knife," he said.
"I was stabbed 16 times - I think that makes us more than even."
The jury had heard that his alleged attackers stole a pendant containing his grandmother’s ashes, along with jewellery, a mobile phone and bank cards.
He told police that the defendants gave him clothes, kicked him out and forced him to leave his bloodstained clothes behind.
Jurors also watched police body-worn camera footage recorded when officers arrived at Holly Park on April 18, showing the distressed man covered in blood as crowds gathered.
Boslem, 36, of Skippers Meadows, Durham, admitted wounding with intent and theft but denies rape.
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Hyde, 44, of no fixed address, admitted wounding with intent but denies rape and theft.
Dowson, 52, of Holly Park, Ushaw Moor, denies wounding with intent and theft.
Watson, 48, of Bay Court, Ushaw Moor, denies possessing a bladed article.
The trial continues.